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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT  OF 


DANIEL    C.     OILMAN. 


V. 


----- 


MY  DIAEY 


NOETH  AND  SOUTH. 


WILLIAM  HOWARD  RUSSELL. 


NEW    YOEK: 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS. 

FRANKLIN    SQUARE. 

1863. 


.3 


.. 


TO 


RICHARD    QTJAIN,  M.D., 

•    Clrfe  f atone  is  Mnrtrti 

TESTIMONY  OF  THE  REGARD  AND  GRATITUDE  OF 

THE  AUTHOR 


INTRODUCTORY. 


A  BOOK  which,  needs  apologies  ought  never  to  have  been  written.  This 
is  a  canon  of  criticism  so  universally  accepted,  that  authors  have  abstained 
of  late  days  from  attempting  to  disarm  hostility  by  confessions  of  weakness, 
and  are  almost  afraid  to  say  a  prefatory  word  to  the  gentle  reader. 

It  is  not  to  plead  in  mitigation  of  punishment  or  make  an  appeal  ad  mis- 
er'icordiam,  I  break  through  the  ordinary  practice,  but  by  way  of  introduction 
and  explanation  to  those  who  may  read  this  volume,  I  may  remark  that 
it  consists  for  the  most  part  of  extracts  from  the  diaries  and  note-books 
which  I  assiduously  kept  whilst  I  was  in  the  United  States,  as  records  of  the 
events  and  impressions  of  the  hour.  I  have  been  obliged  to  omit  many  pas 
sages  which  might  cause  pain  or  injury  to  individuals  still  living  in  the  midst 
of  a  civil  war,  but  the  spirit  of  the  original  is  preserved  as  far  as  possible, 
and  I  would  entreat  my  readers  to  attribute  the  frequent  use  of  the  personal 
pronoun  and  personal  references  to  the  nature  of  the  sources  from  which  the 
work  is  derived,  rather  than  to  the  vanity  of  the  author. 

Had  the  pages  been  literally  transcribed,  without  omitting  a  word,  the  fate 
of  one  whose  task  it  was  to  sift  the  true  from  the  false  and  to  avoid  error  in 
statements  of  fact,  in  a  country  remarkable  for  the  extraordinary  fertility 
with  which  the  unreal  is  produced,  would  have  excited  some  commiseration  ; 
but  though  there  is  much  extenuated  in  these  pages,  there  is  not,  I  believe, 
aught  set  down  in  malice.  My  aim  has  been  to  retain  so  much  relating  to 
events  passing  under  my  eyes,  or  to  persons  who  have  become  fa-mous  in 
this  great  struggle,  as  may  prove  interesting  at  present,  though  they  did  not 
at  the  time  always  appear  in  their  just  proportions  of  littleness  or  magnitude. 

During  my  sojourn  in  the  States,  many  stars  of  the  first  order  have  risen 
out  of  space  or  fallen  into  the  outer  darkness.  The  watching,  trustful  mil 
lions  have  hailed  with  delight  or  witnessed  with  terror  the  advent  of  a  shin 
ing  planet  or  a  splendid  comet,  which  a  little  observation  has  resolved  into 
watery  nebulas.  In  the  Southern  hemisphere,  Bragg  and  Beauregard  have 
given  place  to  Lee  and  Jackson.  In  the  North  M'Dowell  has  faded  away 
before  M'Clellan,  who  having  been  put  for  a  short  season  in  eclipse  by  Pope, 
only  to  culminate  with  increased  effulgence,  has  finally  paled  away  before 
Burnside.  The  heroes  of  yesterday  are  the  martyrs  or  outcasts  of  to-day, 
and  no  American  general  needs  a  slave  behind  him  in  the  triumphal  chariot 
to  remind  him  that  he  is  a  mortal.  Had  I  foreseen  such  rapid  whirls  in 
the  wheel  of  fortune  I  might  have  taken  more  note  of  the  men  who  were  be 
low,  but  my  business  was  not  to  speculate  but  to  describe. 

The  day  I  landed  at  Norfolk,  a  tall  lean  man,  ill-dressed,  in  a  slouching 
hat  and  wrinkled  clothes,  stood,  with  his  arms  folded  and  legs  wide  apart, 
against  the  wall  of  the  hotel  looking  on  the  ground.  One  of  the  waiters 


viii  INTRODUCTORY. 

told  me  it  was  "  Professor  Jackson,"  and  I  have  been  plagued  by  suspicions 
that  in  refusing  an  introduction  which  was  offered  to  me,  I  missed  an  oppor 
tunity  of  making  the  acquaintance  of  the  man  of  the  stonewalls  of  Winches 
ter.  But,  on  the  whole,  I  have  been  fortunate  in  meeting  many  of  the  sol 
diers  and  statesmen  who  have  distinguished  themselves  in  this  unhappy  war. 

Although  I  have  never  for  one  moment  seen  reason  to  change  the  opinion 
I  expressed  in  the  first  letter  I  wrote  from  the  States,  that  the  Union  as  it 
was  could  never  be  restored,  I  am  satisfied  the  Free  States  of  the  North  will 
retain  and  gain  great  advantages  by  the  struggle,  if  they  will  only  set  them 
selves  at  work  to  accomplish  their  destiny,  nor  lose  their  time  in  sighing 
over  vanished  empire  or  indulging  in  abortive  dreams  of  conquest  and 
schemes  of  vengeance ;  but  my  readers  need  not  expect  from  me  any  dis 
sertations  on  the  present  or  future  of  the  great  republics,  which  have  been 
so  loosely  united  by  the  Federal  band,  nor  any  description  of  the  political 
system,  social  life,  manners  or  customs  of  the  people,  beyond  those  which 
may  be  incidentally  gathered  from  these  pages. 

It  has  been  my  fate  to  see  Americans  under  their  most  unfavourable  as 
pect  ;  with  all  their  national  feelings,  as  well  as  the  vices  of  our  common 
humanity,  exaggerated  and  developed  by  the  terrible  agonies  of  a  civil  war, 
and  the  throes  of  political  revolution.  Instead  of  the  hum  of  industry,  I 
heard  the  noise  of  cannon  through  the  land.  Society  convulsed  by  cruel 
passions  and  apprehensions,  and  shattered  by  violence,  presented  its  broken 
angles  to  the  stranger,  and  I  can  readily  conceive  that  the  America  I  saw, 
was  no  more  like  the  country  of  which  her  people  boast  so  loudly,  than  the 
St.  Lawrence  when  the  ice  breaks  up,  hurrying  onwards  the  rugged  drift  and 
its  snowy  crust  of  crags,  with  hoarse  roar,  and  crashing  with  irresistible  force 
and  fury  to  the  sea,  resembles  the  calm  flow  of  the  stately  river  on  a  sum 
mer's  day. 

The  swarming  communities  and  happy  homes  of  the  New  England  States 
— the  most  complete  exhibition  of  the  best  results  of  the  American  system 
— it  was  denied  me  to  witness ;  but  if  I  was  deprived  of  the  gratification  of 
worshipping  the  frigid  intellectualism  of  Boston,  I  saw  the  effects  in  the  field, 
among  the  men  I  met,  of  the  teachings  and  theories  of  the  political,  moral, 
and  religious  professors,  who  are  the  chiefs  of  that  universal  Yankee  nation, 
as  they  delight  to  call  themselves,  and  there  recognised  the  radical  differ 
ences  which  must  sever  them  for  ever  from  a  true  union  with  the  Southern 
States. 

The  contest,  of  which  no  man  can  predict  the  end  or  result,  still  rages,  but 
notwithstanding  the  darkness  and  clouds  which  rest  upon  the  scene,  I  place 
so  much  reliance  on  the  innate  good  qualities  of  the  great  nations  which  are 
settled  on  the  Continent  of  North  America,  as  to  believe  they  will  be  all  the 
better  for  the  sweet  uses  of  adversity ;  learning  to  live  in  peace  with  their 
neighbours,  adapting  their  institutions  to  their  necessities,  and  working  out, 
not  in  their  old  arrogance  and  insolence — mistaking  material  prosperity  for 
good  government — but  in  fear  and  trembling,  the  experiment  on  which  they 
have  cast  so  much  discredit,  and  the  glorious  career  which  misfortune  and 
folly  can  arrest  but  for  a  time.  TV.  H.  KUSSELL. 

London,  December  8, 18G2. 


MY  DIARY 


AND  SOUTH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Departure  from  Cork — The  Atlantic  in  March — Fellow- 
passengers— American  politics  and  parties — The  Irish 
in  New  York — Approach  to  New  York. 

ON  the  evening  of  3rd  March,  1861, 1  was  trans 
ferred  from  the  little  steam-tender,  which  plies 
between  Cork  and  the  anchorage  of  the  Cunard 
steamers  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbour,  to  the 
deck  of  Ihe  good  steamship  Arabia,  Captain 
Stone ;  and  at  nightfall  we  were  breasting  the 
long  rolling  waves  of  the  Atlantic. 

The  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  has  been  done 
by  so  many  able  hands,  that  it  would  be  super 
fluous  to  describe  mine,  though  it  is  certain  no 
one  passage  ever  resembled  another,  and  no  crew 
or  set  of  passengers  in  one  ship  were  ever  iden 
tical  with  those  in  any  other.  For  thirteen  days 
the  Atlantic  followed  its  usual  course  in  the 
month  of  March,  and  was  true  to  the  traditions 
which  affix  to  it  in  that  month  the  character  of 
violence  and  moody  changes,  from  bad  to  worse 
and  back  again.  The  wind  was  sometimes  dead 
against  us,  and  then  the  infelix  Arabia'  with  iron 
energy  set  to  work,  storming  great  Malakhofs 
of  water,  which  rose  above  her  like  the  side  of 
some  sward-coated  hill  crested  with  snow-drifts  ; 
and  having  gained  the  summit,  and  settled  for 
an  instant  among  the  hissing  sea-horses,  ran 
plunging  headlong  down  to  the  encounter  of 
another  wave,  and  thus  went  battling  on  with 
heart  of  fire  and  breath  of  flame — igneus  est  ollis 
vigor — hour  after  hour. 

Tha  traveller  for  pleasure  had  better  avoid  the 
Atlantic  in  the  month  of  March.  The  wind  was 
sometimes  with  us,  and  then  the  sensations  of 
the  passengers  and  the  conduct  of  the  ship  were 
pretty  much  as  they  had  been  during  the  adverse 
breezes  before,  varied  by  the  performance  of  a 
very  violent  "yawing"  from  side  to  side,  and 
certain  squashings  of  the  paddle-boxes  into  the 
yeasty  waters, 'which  now  ran  a  ra£e  with  us  and 
each  other,  as  if  bent  on  chasing  us  down,  and 
rolling  their  boarding  parties  with  foaming  crests 
down  on  our  decks.  The  boss,  which  we  repre 
sented  in  the  stormy  shield  around  us,  still  moved 
on ;  day  by  day  our  microcosm  shifted  its  posi 
tion  in  the  ever-advancing  circle  of  which  it  was 
the  centre,  with  all  around  and  within  it  ever 
undergoing  a  sea  change. 

The  Americans  on  board  were,  of  course,  the 
most  interesting  passengers  to  one  like  myself, 
who  was  going  out  to  visit  the  great  Kepublic 
under  very  peculiar  circumstances.  There  was, 
first,  Major  Garnett,  a  Virginian,  who  was  going 
back  to  his  State  to  follow  her  fortunes.  He 
was  an  officer  of  the  regular  army  of  the  United 
States,  who  had  served  with  distinction  in  Mex 
ico  ;  an  accomplished,  well-read  man  ;  reserved, 
and  rather  gloomy ;  full  of  the  doctrine  of  States' 
Rights,  and  animated  with  a  considerable  feeling 
of  contempt  for  the  New  Englanders,  and  with 
the  strongest  prejudices  in  favour  of  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery.  He  laughed  to  scorn  the  doc 


trine  that  all  men  are  born  equal  in  the  sense 
of  all  men  having  equal  rights.  Some  were 
born  to  be  slaves — some  to  be  labourers  in  the 
lower  strata  above  the  slaves — others  to  follow 
useful  mechanical  arts — the  rest  were  born  to 
rule  and  to  own  their  fellow-men.  There  was 
next  a  young  Carolinian,  who  had  left  his  post 
as  attache  at  St.  Petersburg!!  to  return  to  his 
State :  thus,  in  all  probability,  avoiding  the  in 
evitable  supcrcession  which  awaited  him  at  the 
hands  of  the  new  Government  at  Washington. 
He  represented,  in  an  intensified  form,  all  the 
Virginian's  opinions,  and  held  that  Mr.  Cal- 
houn's  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  was  in- 
controvertibly  right.  There  were  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  State  sovereignty,  he  confessed ;  but 
they  were  only  in  detail — the  principle  was  un 
assailable. 

To  Mr.  Mitchell,  South  Carolina  represented  a 
power  quite  sufficient  to  meet  all  the  Northern 
States  in  arms.  "The  North  will  attempt  to 
blockade  our  coast,"  said  he  ;  "  and  in  that  case, 
the  South  must  march  to  the  attack  by  land, 
and  will  probably  act  in  Virginia."  "But  if  the 
North  attempts  to  do  more  than  institute  a  block 
ade? — for  instance,  if  their  fleet  attack  your  sea 
port  towns,  and  land  men  to  occupy  them?" 
"Oh,  in  that  case,  we  are  quite  certain  of  beat 
ing  them."  Mr.  Julian  Mitchell  was  indignant 
at  the  idea  of  submitting  to  the  rule  of  a  "rail- 
splitter,"  and  of  such  men  as  Seward  and  Cam 
eron.  "No  gentleman  could  tolerate  such  a 
Government." 

An  American  family  from  Nashville,  consist 
ing  of  a  lady  and  her  son  and  daughter,  were 
warm  advocates  of  a  "gentlemanly"  govern 
ment,  and  derided  the  Yankees  with  great  bit 
terness.  But  they  were  by  no  means  as  ready 
to  encounter  the  evils  of  war,  or  to  break  up  the 
Union,  as  the  South-Carolinian  or  the  Virginian; 
and  in  that  respect  they  represented,  I  was  told, 
the  negative  feelings  of  the  Border  States,  which 
are  disposed  to  a  temporising,  moderate  course 
of  action,  most  distasteful  to  the  passionate  se- 
ceders. 

There  were  also  two  Louisiana  sugar-planters 
on  board — one  owning  500  slaves,  the  other  rich 
in  some  thousands  of  acres ;  they  seemed  to  care 
very  little  for  the  political  aspects  of  the  ques 
tion  of  Secession,  and  regarded  it  merely  in  ref 
erence  to  its  bearing  on  the  sugar  crop,  and  the 
security  of  slave  property.  Secession  was  re 
garded  by  them  as  a  very  extreme  and  violent 
measure,  to  which  the  State  had  resorted  with 
reluctance ;  but  it  was  obvious,  at  the  same  time, 
that,  in  event  of  a  general  secession  of  the  Slave 
States  from  the  North,  Louisiana  could  neither 
have  maintained  her  connection  with  the  North, 
nor  have  stood  in  isolation  from  her  sister  States. 

All  these,  and  some  others  who  were  fellow 
passengers,  might  be  termed  Americans — pur 
sang.  Garnett  belonged  to  a  very  old  family  in 
Virginia.  Mitchell  came  from  a  stock  of  several 


10 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


generations'  residence  in  South  Carolina.  The 
Tennessee  family  were,  in  speech  and  thought, 
types  of  what  Europeans  consider  true  Ameri 
cans  to  be.  Now  take  the  other  side.  First 
there  was  an  exceedingly  intelligent,  well-in 
formed  young  merchant  of  New  York — nephew 
of  an  English  county  Member,  known  for  his 
wealth,  liberality,  and  munificence.  Educated 
at  a  university  in  the  Northern  States,  he  had 
lived  a  good  deal  in  England,  and  was  returning 
to  his  father  from  a  course  of  book-keeping  in 
the  house  of  his  uncle's  firm  in  Liverpool.  His 
father  and  uncle  were  born  near  Coleraine,  and 
he  had  just  been  to  see  the  humble  dwelling, 
close  to  the  Giant's  Causeway,  which  sheltered 
their  youth,  and  where  their  race  was  cradled. 
In  the  war  of  1812,  the  brothers  were  about  sail 
ing  in  a  privateer  fitted  out  to  prey  against  the 
British,  when  accident  fixed  one  of  them  in  Liv 
erpool,  where  he  founded  the  house  which  has 
grown  so  greatly  with  the  development  of  trade 
between  New  York  and  Lancashire,  whilst  the 
other  settled  in  the  States.  Without  being  vio 
lent  in  tone,  the  young  Northerner  was  very  res 
olute  in  temper,  and  determined  to  do  all  which 
lay  in  his  power  to  prevent  the  "glorious  Union" 
being  broken  up. 

The  "Union"  has  thus  founded  on  two  con 
tinents  a  family  of  princely  wealth,  whose  orig 
inals  had  probably  fought  with  bitterness  in  their 
early  youth  against  the  union  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland.  But  did  Mr.  Brown,  or  the  other 
Americans  who  shared  his  views,  unreservedly 
approve  of  American  institutions,  and  consider 
them  faultless?  By  no  means.  The  New  York 
ers  especially  were  eloquent  on  the  evils  of  the 
suffrage,  and  of  the  licence  of  the  Press  in  their 
own  city;  and  displayed  much  irritation  on  the 
subject  of  naturalisation.  The  Irish  were  useful, 
in  their  way,  making  roads  and  working  hard, 
for  there  were  few  Americans  who  condescended 
to  manual  labour,  or  who  could  not  make  far 
more  money  in  higher  kinds  of  work  ;  but  it  was 
absurd  to  give  the  Irish  votes  which  they  used 
to  destroy  the  influence  of  native-born  citizens, 
and  to  sustain  a  corporation  and  local  bodies  of 
unsurpassable  turpitude,  corruption,  and  ineffi 
ciency. 

Another  young  merchant,  a  college  friend  of 
the  former,  was  just  returning  from  a  tour  in 
Europe  with  his  amiable  sister.  His  father  was 
the  son  of  an  Irish  immigrant,  but  he  did  not  at 
all  differ  from  the  other  gentlemen  of  his  city  in 
the  estimate  in  which  he  held  the  Irish  element ; 
and  though  he  had  no  strong  bias  one  way  or 
other,  he  was  quite  resolved  to  support  the  ab- 
.  straction  called  the  Union,  and  its  representative 
fact — the  Federal  Government.  Thus  the  agri 
culturist  and  the  trader — the  grower  of  raw  prod 
uce  and  the  merchant  who  dealt  in  it — were  at 
opposite  sides  of  the  question — wide  apart  as  the 
Northern  and  Southern  Poles,  They  sat  apart, 
ate  apart,  talked  apart — two  distinct  nations,  with 
intense  antipathies  on  the  part  of  the  South,  which 
was  active  and  aggressive  m  all  its  demonstra 
tions. 

The  Southerners  have  got  a  strange  charge  de 
plus  against  the  Irish.  It  appears  that  the  reg 
ular  army  of  the  United  States  is  mainly  com 
posed  of  Irish  and  Germans;  very  few  Ameri 
cans  indeed  being  low  enough,  or  martially  dis 
posed  enough,  to  "  take  the  shilling."  In  case 


of  a  conflict,  which  these  gentlemen  think  inevi 
table,  "low  Irish  mercenaries  would,"  they  say, 
"be  pitted  against  the  gentlemen  of  the  South, 
and  the  best  blood  in  the  States  would  be  spilled 
by  fellows  whose  lives  are  worth  nothing  what 
ever."  Poor  Paddy  is  regarded  as  a  mere  work 
ing  machine,  fit,  at  best,  to  serve  against  Choc- 
taws  and  S'eminoles.  His  facility  of  reproduc 
tion  has  to  compensate  for  fhe  waste  which  is 
caused  by  the  development  in  his  unhappy  head 
of  the  organs  of  combativeness  and  destructive- 
ness.  Certainly,  if  the  war  is  to  be  carried  on  by 
the  United  States'  regulars,  the  Southern  States 
will  soon  dispose  of  them,  for  they  do  not  num 
ber  20,000  men,  and  their  officers  are  not  much 
in  love  with  the  new  Government.  But  can  it 
come  to  War  ?  Mr.  Mitchell  assures  me  I  shall 
see  some  "pretty  tall  fighting." 

The  most  vehement  Northerners  in  the  steamer 
are  Germans,  who  are  going  to  the  States  for  the 
first  time,  or  returning  there.  They  have  become 
satisfied,  no  doubt,  by  long  process  of  reasoning, 
that  there  is  some  anomaly  in  the  condition  of  a 
country  which  calls  itself  the  land  of  liberty,  and 
is  at  the  same  time  the  potent  palladium  of  serf 
dom  and  human  chattelry.  When  they  are  not 
sea-sick,  which  is  seldom,  the  Teutons  rise  up  in 
all  the  might  of  their  misery  and  dirt,  and,  mak 
ing  spasmodic  efforts  to  smoke,  blurt  out  between 
the  puff's,  or  in  moody  intervals,  sundry  remarks 
on  American  politics.  "These  are  the  swine," 
quoth  Garnett,  "who  are  swept  out  of  German 
gutters  as  too  foul  for  them,  and  who  come  over 
to  the  States  and  presume  to  control  the  fate  and 
the  wishes  of  our  people.  In  their  own  country 
they  proved  they  were  incapable  of  either  earn 
ing  a  living,  or  exercising  the  duties  of  citizen 
ship  ;  and  they  seek  in  our  country  a  licence  de 
nied  them  in  their  own,  and  the  means  of  living 
which  they  could  not  acquire  anywhere  else." 

And  for  myself  I  may  truly  say  this,  that  no 
man  ever  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  the  United  States 
with  a  stronger  and  sincerer  desire  to  ascertain 
and  to  tell  the  truth,  as  it  appeared  to  him.  I 
had  no  theories  to  uphold,  no  prejudices  to  sub 
serve,  no  interests  to  advance,  no  instructions  to 
fulfil ;  I  was  a  free  agent,  bound  to  communicate 
to  the  powerful  organ  of  public  opinion  I  repre 
sented,  my  own  daily  impressions  of  the  men, 
scenes,  and  actions  around  me,  without  fear,  fa 
vour,  or  affection  of  or  for  anything  but  that 
which  seemed  to  me  to  be  the  truth.  As  to  the 
questions  which  were  distracting  the  States,  my 
mind  was  a  tabula  rasa,  or,  rather,  tabu/a  non 
st-ripta.  I  felt  indisposed  to  view  with  favour  a 
rebellion  against  one  of  the  established  and  rec 
ognized  governments  of  the  world,  which,  though 
not  friendly  to  Great  Britain,  nor  opposed  to  slav 
ery,  was  without,  so  far  as  I  could  sec,  any  legit 
imate  cause  of  revolt,  or  any  injury  or  grievance, 
perpetrated  or  imminent,  assailed  by  States  still 
less  friendly  to  us,  which  the  slave  States,  pure 
and  simple,  certainly  were  and  probably  are.  At 
the  same  time,  I  knew  that  these  were  grounds 
which  I  could  justly  take,  whilst  they  would  not 
be  tenable  by  an  American,  who  is  by  the  theory 
on  which  he  revolted  from  us  and  created  his  own 
system  of  government,  bound  to  recognise  the 
principle  that  the  discontent  of  the  popular  ma 
jority  with  its  rulers,  is  ample  ground  and  justi 
fication  for  revolution. 

It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  fourteenth  day 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


11 


that  the  shores  of  New  York  loomed  through  the 
drift  of  a  cold  wintry  sea,  leaden-grey  and  com 
fortless,  and  in  a  little  time  more  the  coast,  cov 
ered  with  snow,  rose  in  sight.  Towards  the  after 
noon  the  sun  came  out  and  brightened  the  waters 
and  the  sails  of  the  pretty  trim  schooners  and 
coasters  which  were  dancing  around,  us.  How 
different  the  graceful,  tautly-rigged,  clean,  white- 
sailed  vessels  from  the  round-sterned,  lumpish 
billyboys  and  nondescripts  of  the  eastern  coast 
of  our  isle !  Presently  there  came  bowling  down 
towards  us  a  lively  little  schooner-yacht,  very 
like  the  once  famed  "America,"  brightly  painted 
in  green,  sails  dazzling  white,  lofty  ponderous 
masts,  no  tops.  As  she  came  nearer,  we  saw  she 
was  crowded  with  men  in  chimney-pot  black  hats, 
and  coats,  and  the  like — perhaps  a  party  of  cit 
izens  on  pleasure,  cold  as  the  day  was.  Nothing 
of  the  kind.  The  craft  was  our  pilot-boat,  and 
the  hats  and  coats  belonged  to  the  hardy  mari 
ners  who  act  as  guides  to  the  port  of  New  York. 
Their  boat  was  lowered,  and  was  soon  under  our 
mainchains ;  and  a  chimney-pot  hat  having  duly 
come  over  the  side,  delivered  a  mass  of  newspa 
pers  to  the  captain,  which  were  distributed  among 
the  eager  passengers,  when  each  at  once  became 
the  centre  of  a  spell-bound  circle. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Arrival  at  New  York — Custom  house — General  impres 
sions  as  to  North  and  South— Street  in  New  York — Ho 
tel — Breakfast — American  women  and  men — Visit  to 
Mr.  Bancroft — Street  railways. 

THE  entrance  to  New  York,  as  it  was  seen  by 
us  on  IGth  March,  is  not  remarkable  for  beauty 
or  picturesque  scenery,  and  I  incurred  the  ire  of 
several  passengers,  because  I  could  not  consist 
ently  say  it  was  very  pretty.  It  was  difficult  to 
distinguish  through  the  snow  the  villas  and  coun 
try  houses,  which  are  said  to  be  so  charming  in 
summer.  But  beyond  these  rose  a  forest  of  masts 
close  by  a  low  shore  of  brick  houses  and  blue 
roofs,  above  the  level  of  which  again  spires  of 
churches  and  domes  and  cupolas  announced  a 
great  city.  On  our  left,  at  the  narrowest  part 
of  the  entrance,  there  was  a  very  powerful  case- 
mated  work  of  fine  close  stone,  in  three  tiers, 
something  like  Fort  Paul  at  Sebastopol,  built 
close  to  the  water's  edge,  and  armed  on  all  the 
faces — apparently  a  tetragon  with  bastions.  Ex 
tensive  works  were  going  on  at  the  ground  above 
it,  which  rises  rapidly  from  the  water  to  a  height 
of  more  than  a  hundred  feet,  and  the  rudiments 
of  an  extensive  work  and  heavily  armed  earthen 
parapets  could  be  seen  from  the  channel.  On 
the  right  hand,  crossing  its  fire  with  that  of  the 
batteries  and  works  on  our  left,  there  was  an 
other  regular  stone  fort  with  fortified  enceinte, 
and  higher  up  the  channel,  as  it  widens  to  the 
city  on  the  same  side,  I  could  make  out  a  smaller 
fort  on  the  water's  edge.  The  situation  of  the 
city  renders  it  susceptible  of  powerful  defence 
from  the  sea-side,  and  even  now  it  would  be 
hazardous  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  batteries 
unless  in  powerful  iron-clad  ships  favoured  by 
wind  and  tide,  which  could  hold  the  place  at 
their  mercy.  Against  a  wooden  fleet  New  York 
is  now  all  but  secure,  save  under  exceptional  cir 
cumstances  in  favour  of  the  assailants. 

It  was  dark  as  the  steamer  hauled  up  along 


side  the  wharf  on  the  New  Jersey  side  of  the  riv- 
but  ere  the  sun  set  I  could  form  some  idea 
of  the  activity  and  industry  of  the  people  from 
;he  enormous  ferry-boats  moving  backwards  and 
forwards  like  arks  on  the  water,  impelled  by  the 
great  walking-beam  engines,  the  crowded  stream 
full  of  merchantmen,  steamers,  and  small  craft, 
the  smoke  of  the  factories,  the  tall  chimneys — 
the  net-work  of  boats  and  rafts — all  the  evidences 
of  commercial  life  in  full  development.  What  a 
swarming,  eager  crowd  on  the  quay-wall !  what 
a  wonderful  ragged  regiment  of  labourers  and 
porters,  hailing  us  in  broken  or  Hibernianized 
English  !  "These  are  all  Irish  and  Germans," 
anxiously  explained  a  New  Yorker.  "I'll  bet 
fifty  dollars  there's  not  a  native-born  American 
among  them." 

With  Anglo-Saxon  disregard  of  official  insig 
nia,  American  Custom  House  officers  dress  very 
much  like  their  British  brethren,  without  any 
sign  of  authority  as  faint  as  even  the  brass  but 
ton  and  crown,  so  that  the  stranger  is  somewhat 
uneasy  when  he  sees  unauthorised-looking  people 
taking  liberties  with  his  plunder,  especially  after 
the  admonition  he  has  received  on  board  ship  to 
look  sharp  about  his  things  as  soon  as  he  lands. 
I  was  provided  with  an  introduction  to  one  of  the 
principal  officers,  and  he  facilitated  my  egress, 
and  at  last  I  was  bundled  out  through  a  gate 
into  a  dark  alley,  ankle  deep  in  melted  snow 
and  mud,  where  I  was  at  once  engaged  in  a 
brisk  encounter  with  my  Irish  porterhood,  and, 
after  a  long  struggle,  succeeded  in  stowing  my 
effects  in  and  about  a  remarkable  specimen  of 
the  hackney-coach  of  the  last  century,  very  high 
in  the  axle,  and  weak  in  the  springs,  which  plash 
ed  down  towards  the  river  through  a  crowd  of 
men  shouting  out,  "You  haven't  paid  me  yet, 
yer  honour.  You  haven't  given  anything  to  your 
own  man  that's  been  waiting  here  the  last  six 
months  for  your  honour!"  "/'m  the  man  that 
put  the  lugidge  up,  sir,"  &c.,  &c.  The  coach 
darted  on  board  a  great  steam  ferry-boat,  which 
had  on  board  a  number  of  similar  vehicles,  and 
omnibuses,  and  the  gliding,  shifting  lights,  and 
the  deep,  strong  breathing  of  the  engine,  told  me 
I  was  moving  and  afloat  before  I  was  otherwise 
aware  of  it.  A  few  minutes  brought  us  over  to 
the  lights  on  the  New  York  side — a  jerk  or  two 
up  a  steep  incline — and  we  were  rattling  over  a 
most  abominable  pavement,  plunging  into  mud- 
holes,  squashing  through  snow-heaps  in  ill-light 
ed,  narrow  streets  of  low,  mean-looking,  wooden 
houses,  of  which  an  unusual  proportion  appeared 
to  be  lager-bier  saloons,  whisky-shops,  oyster- 
houses,  and  billiard  and  smoking  establishments. 

The  crowd  on  the  pavement  were  very  much 
what  a  stranger  would  be  likely  to  see  in  a  very 
bad  part  of  London,  Antwerp,  or  Hamburg,  with 
a  dash  of  the  noisy  exuberance  which  proceeds 
from  the  high  animal  spirits  that  defy  police  reg 
ulations  and  are  superior  to  police  force,  called 
"  rowdyism."  The  drive  was  long  and  tortuous; 
but  by  degrees  the  character  of  the  thoroughfares 
and  streets  improved.  At  last  we  turned  into  a 
wide  street  with  very  tall  houses,  alternating  with 
far  humbler  erections,  blazing  with  lights,  gay 
with  shop-windows,  thronged  in  spite  of  the  mud 
with  well-dressed  people,  and  pervaded  by  strings 
of  omnibuses — Oxford  Street  was  nothing  to  it 
for  length.  At  intervals  there  towered  up  a 
block  of  brickwork  and  stucco  with  long  rows 


12 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


of  windows  lighted  up  tier  above  tier,  and  a 
swarming  crowd  passing  in  and  out  of  the  por 
tals,  which  were  recognised  as  the  barrack-like 
glory  of  American  civilisation — a  Broadway 
monster  hotel.  More  oyster -shops,  lager -bier 
saloons,  concert-rooms  of  astounding  denomina 
tions,  with  external  decorations  very  much  in 
the  style  of  the  booths  at  Bartholomew  Fair 
— churches,  restaurants,  confectioners,  private- 
houses  !  again  another  series— they  cannot  go 
on  expanding  for  ever.  The  coach  at  last  drives 
into  a  large  square,  and  lands  me  at  the  Claren 
don  Hotel. 

Whilst  I  was  crossing  the  sea.,  the  President's 
Inaugural  Message,  the  composition  of  which  is 
generally  attributed  to  Mr.  Seward,  had  been  de 
livered,  and  had  reached  Europe,  and  the  causes 
which  were  at  work  in  destroying  the  cohesion 
of  the  Union,  had  acquired  greater  strength  and 
violence. 

Whatever  force  "the  declaration  of  causes 
which  induced  the  Secession  of  South  Carolina" 
might  have  for  Carolinians,  it  could  not  influence 
a  foreigner  who  knew  nothing  at  all  of  the  rights, 
sovereignty,  and  individual  independence  of  a 
state,  which,  however,  had  no  right  to  make  war 
or  peace,  to  coin  money,  or  enter  into  treaty  ob 
ligations  with  any  other  country.  The  South 
Carolinian  was  nothing  to  us,  quoad  South  Caro 
lina — he  was  merely  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
and  we  knew  no  more  of  him  in  any  other  ca 
pacity  than  a  French  authority  would  know  of  a 
British  subject  as  a  Yorkshireman  or  a  Munster- 
man. 

But  the  moving  force  of  revolution  is  neither 
reason  nor  justice — it  is  most  frequently  passion 
— it  is  often  interest.  The  American,  when  he 
seeks  to  prove  that  the  Southern  States  have  no 
right  to  revolt  from  a  confederacy  of  states  cre 
ated  by  revolt,  has  by  the  principles  on  which  he 
justifies  his  own  revolution,  placed  between  him 
self  and  the  European  a  great  gulf  in  the  level 
of  argument.  According  to  the  deeds  and  words 
of  Americans,  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  South  Car 
olina  should  not  use  the  rights  claimed  for  each 
of  the  thirteen  colonies,  "to  alter  and  abolish  a 
form  of  government  when  it  becomes  destruct 
ive  of  the  ends  for  which  it  is  established,  and  to 
institute  a  new  one."  And  the  people  must  be 
left  to  decide  the  question  as  regards  their  own 
government  for  themselves,  or  the  principle  is 
worthless.  The  arguments,  however,  which  are 
now  going  on  are  fast  tending  towards  the  ultima 
ratio  regum.  At  present  I  find  public  attention 
is  concentrated  on  the  two  Federal  forts,  Pickens 
and  Sumter,  called  after  two  officers  of  the  rev 
olutionary  armies  in  the«old  war.  As  Alabama 
and  South  Carolina  liave  gone  out,  they  now  de 
mand  the  possession  of  these  forts,  as  of  the  soil 
of  their  several  states  and  attached  to  their  sov 
ereignty.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Government 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  considers  it  has  no  right  to  give 
up  any  thing  belonging  to  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  but  evidently  desires  to  temporize  and 
evade  any  decision  which  might  precipitate  an 
attack  on  the  forts  by  the  batteries  and  forces 
pi-epared  to  act  against  them.  There  is  not  suf 
ficient  garrison  in  either  for  an  adequate  defence, 
and  the  difficulty  of  procuring  supplies  is  very 
great.  Under  the  circumstances  every  one  is 
asking  what  the  Government  is  going  to  do  ?  The 
Southern  people  have  declared  they  will  resist 


any  attempt  to  supply  or  reinforce  the  garrisons, 
and  in  Charleston,  at  least,  have  shown  they 
nean  to  keep  their  word.  It  is  a  strange  situa- 
:ion.  The  Federal  Government,  afraid  to  speak, 
and  unable  to  act,  is  leaving  the  soldiers  to  do 
is  they  please.  In  some  instances,  officers  of 
rank,  such  as  General  Twiggs,  have  surrendered 
everything  to  the  State  authorities,  and  the  treach 
ery  and  secession  of  many  officers  in  the  army 
and  navy  no  doubt  paralyze  and  intimidate  the 
civilians  at  the  head  of  affairs. 

Sunday,  17th  March. — The  first  thing  I  saw 
this  morning,  after  a  vision  of  a  waiter  pretend 
ing  to  brush  my  clothes  with  a  feeble  twitch  com 
posed  of  fine  fibre  had  vanished,  was  a  procession 
of  men,  forty  or  fifty  perhaps,  preceded  by  a  small 
band  (by  no  excess  of  compliment  can  I  say,  of 
music),  trudging  through  the  cold  and  slush  two 
and  two :  they  wore  shamrocks,  or  the  best  re 
semblance  thereto  which  the  American  soil  can 
produce,  in  their  hats,  and  green  silk^ashes  em 
blazoned  with  crownless  harp  upon  their  coats, 
but  it  needed  not  these  insignia  to  tell  they  were 
Irishmen,  and  their  solemn  mien  indicated  that 
they  were  going  to  mass.  It  was  agreeable  to 
see  them  so  well  clad  and  respectable  looking, 
though  occasional  hats  seemed  as  if  they  had  just 
recovered  from  severe  contusions,  and  others  had 
the  picturesque  irregularity  of  outline  now  and 
then  observable  in  the  old  country.  The  aspect 
of  the  street  was  irregular,  and  its  abnormal  look 
was  increased  by  the  air  of  the  passers-by,  who 
at  that  hour  were  domestics — very  finely  dressed 
negroes,  Irish,  or  German.  The  coloured  ladies 
made  most  elaborate  toilettes,  and  as  they  held 
up  their  broad  crinolines  over  the  mud  looked  not 
unlike  double-stemmed  mushrooms.  "They're 
concayted  poor  craythures  them  niggers,  male 
and  faymale,"  was  the  remark  of  the  waiter  as 
he  saw  me  watching  them.  "  There  seem  to  be 
no  sparrows  in  the  streets,"  said  I.  "  Sparras !" 
he  exclaimed;  "and  then  how  did  you  think 
a  little  baste  of  a  sparra  could  fly  across  the 
ochean  ?"  I  felt  rather  ashamed  of  myself. 

And  so  down-stairs  where  there  was  a  tabk 
d'hote  room,  with  great  long  tables  covered  with 
cloths,  plates,  and  breakfast  apparatus,  and  a 
smaller  room  inside,  to  which  I  was  directed  by 
one  of  the  white-jacketted  waiters.  Breakfast 
over,  visitors  began  to  drop  in.  At  the  "office" 
of  the  hotel,  as  it  is  styled,  there  is  a  tray  of  blank 
cards  and  a  big  pencil,  whereby  the  cardless  man 
who  is  visiting  is  enabled  to  send  you  his  name 
and  title.  There  is  a  comfortable  "reception 
room,"  in  which  he  can  remain  and  read  the  pa 
pers,  if  you  are  engaged,  so  that  there  is  little 
chance  of  your  ultimately  escaping  him.  And, 
indeed,  not  one  of  those  who  came  had  any  but 
most  hospitable  intents. 

Out  of  doors  the  weather  was  not  tempting. 
The  snow  lay  in  irregular  layers  and  discoloured 
mounds  along  the  streets,  and  the  gutters  gorged 
with  "snow-bree"  flooded  the  broken  pavement. 
But  after  a  time  the  crowds  began  to  issue  from 
the  churches,  and  it  was  announced  as  the  ne 
cessity  of  the  day,  that  we  were  to  walk  up  and 
down  the  Fifth  Avenue  and  look  at  each  other. 
This  is  the  west-end  of  London — its  Belgravia 
and  Grosvenoria  represented  in  one  long  street, 
with  offshoots  of  inferior  dignity  at  right  angles 
to  it.  Some  of  the  houses  are  handsome,  but  the 
greater  number  have  a  compressed,  squeezed-up 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


aspect,  which  aridfc  from  the  compulsory  nar 
rowness  of  frontage  in  proportion  to  the  height 
of  the  building,  and  all  of  them  are  bright  and 
new,  as  if  they  were  just  finished  to  order, — a 
most  astonishing  proof  of  the  rapid  development 
of  the  city.  As  the  hall  door  is  made  an  import 
ant  feature  in  the  residence,  the  front  parlour  is 
generally  a  narrow,  lanky  apartment,  struggling 
for  existence  between  the  hall  and  the  partition 
of  the  next  house.  The  outer  door,  which  is  al 
ways  provided  with  fine  carved  panels  and  mould 
ings,  is  of  some  rich  varnished  wood,  and  looks 
much  better  than  our  painted  doors.  It  is  gen 
erously  thrown  open  so  as  to  show  an  inner  door 
with  curtains  and  plate  glass.  The  windows, 
which  are  double  on  account  of  the  climate,  ai*e 
frequently  of  plate  glass  also.  Some  of  the  doors 
are  on  the  same  level  as  the  street,  with  a  base 
ment  story  beneath  ;  others  are  approached  by 
flights  of  steps,  the  basement  for  servants  having 
the  entrance  below  the  steps,  and  this,  I  believe, 
is  the  old  Dutch  fashion,  and  the  name  of  "stoop" 
is  still  retained  for  it. 

No  liveried  servants  are  to  be  seen  about  the 
streets,  the  doorways,  or  the  area-steps.  Black 
faces  in  gaudy  caps,  or  an  unmistakeable  "Bid 
dy"  in  crinoline  are  their  substitutes.  The  chief 
charm  of  the  street  was  the  living  ornature  which 
moved  up  and  down  the  trottoirs.  The  costumes 
of  Paris,  adapted  to  the  severity  of  this  wintry 
weather,  were  draped  round  pretty,  graceful  fig 
ures  which,  if  wanting  somewhat  in  that  round 
ed  fulness  of  the  Medician  Venus,  or  in  height, 
were  svelte  and  well  poised.  The  French  boot 
has  been  driven  off  the  field  by  the  Balmoral, 
better  suited  to  the  snow  ;  and  one  must  at  once 
admit — all  prejudices  notwithstanding — that  the 
/American  woman  is  not  only  well  shod  and  well 
gloved,  but  that  she  has  no  reason  to  fear  com 
parisons  in  foot  or  hand  with  any  daughter  of 
sEve,  except,  perhaps,  the  Hindoo. 

The  great  and  most  frequent  fault  of  the 
stranger  in  any  land  is  that  of  generalising  from 
a  few  facts.  Every  one  must  feel  there  are 
"pretty  days"  and  "ugly  days"  in  the  world, 
and  that  his  experience  on  the  one  would  lead 
him  to  conclusions  very  different  from  that  to 
which  he  would  arrive  on  the  other.  To-day  I 
am  quite  satisfied  that  if  the  American  women 
are  deficient  in  stature  and  in  that  which  makes 
us  say,  "There  is  a  fine  woman,"  they  are  easy, 
well  formed,  and  full  of  grace  and  prettiness. 
Admitting  a  certain  pallor — which  the  Russians, 
by  the  bye,  were  wont  to  admire  so  much  that 
they  took  vinegar  to  produce  it — the  face  is  not 
only  pretty,  but  sometimes  of  extraordinary  beau 
ty,  the  features  fine,  delicate,  well-defined.  Ruby 
lips,  indeed,  are  seldom  to  be  seen,  but  now  and 
then  the  flashing  of  snowy-white  evenly-set  ivory 
teeth  dispels  the  delusion  "that  the  Americans  are 
—  though  the  excellence  of  their  dentists  be 
granted— naturally  ill  provided  with  what  they 
take  so  much  pains,  by  eating  bon-bons  and  con 
fectionery,  to  deprive  of  their  purity  and  colour. 

My  friend  R ,  with  whom  I  was  walking, 

knew  every  one  in  the  Fifth  Avenue,  and  we 
worked  our  way  through--  a  succession  of  small 
talk  nearly  as  far  as  the  end  of  the  street,  which 
runs  out  among  divers  places  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  through  a  debris  of  unfinished  conceptions 
in  masonry.  The  abrupt  transition  of  the  city 
into  the  country  is  not  unfavourable  to  an  idea 


that  the  Fifth  Avenue  might  have  been  trans 
ported  from  some  great  workshop,  where  it  had 
been  built  to  order  by  a  despot,  and  dropped 
among  the  Red  men :  indeed,  the  immense 
growth  of  New  York  in  this  direction,  although 
far  inferior  to  that  of  many  parts  of  London,  is 
remarkable  as  the  work  of  eighteen  or  twenty 
years,  and  is  rendered  more  conspicuous  by  be 
ing  developed  in  this  elongated  street,  and  its 
contingents.  I  was  introduced  to  many  persons 
to-day,  and  was  only  once  or  twice  asked  how  I 
liked  New- York ;  perhaps  I  anticipated  the  ques 
tion  by  expressing  my  high  opinion  of  the  Fifth 
Avenue.  Those  to  whom  I  spoke  had  generally 
something  to  say  in  reference  to  the  troubled 
condition  of  the  country,  but  it  was  principally 
of  a  self-complacent  nature.  "  I  suppose,  sir, 
you  are  rather  surprised,  coming  from  Europe, 
to  find  us  so  quiet  here  in  New  York :  we  are  a 
peculiar  people,  and  you  don't  understand  us  in 
Europe." 

In  the  afternoon  I  called  on  Mr.  Bancroft,  for 
merly  minister  to  England,  whose  work  on  Amer 
ica  must  be  rather  rudely  interrupted  by  this  cri 
sis.  Any  thing  with  an  "ex"  to  it  in  America 
is  of  little  weight — ex-presidents  are  nobodies, 
though  they  have  had  the  advantage,  during 
their  four  years'  tenure  of  office,  of  being  prayed 
for  as  long  as  they  live.  So  it  is  of  ex-ministers, 
whom  nobody  prays  for  at  all.  Mr.  Bancroft 
conversed  for  some  time  on  the  aspect  of  affairs, 
but  he  appeared  to  be  unable  to  arrive  at  any  set 
tled  conclusion,  except  that  the  republic,  though 
in  danger,  was  the  most  stable  and  beneficial 
form  of  government  in  the  world,  and  that  as  a 
Government  it  had  no  power  to  coerce  the  peo 
ple  of  the  South  or  to  save  itself  from  the  dan 
ger.  I  was  indeed  astonished  to  hear  from  him 
and  others  so  much  philosophical  abstract  rea 
soning  as  to  the  right  of  seceding,  or,  what  is 
next  to  it,  the  want  of  any  power  in  the  Govern 
ment  to  prevent  it. 

Returning  home  in  order  to  dress  for  dinner, 
I  got  into  a  street-railway-car,  a  long  low  omni 
bus  drawn  by  horses  over  a  strada  ferrata  in  the 
middle  of  the  street.  It  was  filled  with  people 
of  all  classes,  and  at  every  crossing  some  one  or 
other  rang  the  bell,  and  the  driver  stopped  to  let, 
out  or  take  in  passengers,  whereby  the  unoffend 
ing  traveler  became  possessed  of  much  snow- 
droppings  and  mud  on  boots  and  clothing.  I 
found  that  by  far  a  greater  inconvenience  caused 
by  these  street-railways  was  the  destruction  of  all 
comfort  or  rapidity  in  ordinary  carriages. 

I  dined  with  a  New  York  banker,  who  gave\ 
such  a  dinner  as  bankers  generally  give  all  over 
the  world.  He  is  a  man  still  young,  very  kind 
ly,  hospitable,  well-informed,  with  a  most  charm 
ing  household — an  American  by  theory,  an  En 
glishman  in  instincts  and  tastes  —  educated  in 
Europe,  and  sprung  from  British  stock.  Con 
sidering  the  enormous  interests  he  has  at  stake, 
I  was  astonished  to  perceive  how  calmly  he  spoke 
of  the  impending  troubles.  His  friends,  all  men 
of  position  in  New  York  society,  had  the  same 
dilettante  tone,  and  were  as  little  anxious  for 
the  future,  or  excited  by  the  present,  as  a  party 
of  savans  chronicling  the  movements  of  a  "  mag 
netic  storm."  ^ 

On  going  back  to  the  hotel,  I  heard  that 
Judge  Daly  and  some  gentlemen  had  called  to 
request  that  I  would  dine  with  the  Friendly  So- 


14 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


ciety  of  St.  Patrick  to-morrow  at  Astor  House. 
In  what  is  called  "the  bar, "I  met  several  gen 
tlemen,  one  of  whom  said,  "the  majority  of  the 
people  of  New  York,  and  all  the  respectable  peo 
ple,  were  disgusted  at  the  election  of  such  a  fel 
low  as  Lincoln  to  be  President,  and  would  back 
the  Southern  States,  if  it  came  to  a  split." 


CHAPTER  III. 

"  St.  Patrick's  day"  in  .New  York— Public  dinner— Amer- 
lean  Constitution  —  General  topics  of  conversation  — 
Public  estimate  of  the  Government— Evening  party  at 
Mons.  B 's. 

Monday,  18th. —  "St.  Patrick's  day  in  the 
morning''  being  on  the  17th,  was  kept  by  the 
Irish  to-day.  In  the  early  morning  the  sounds 
of  drumming,  fifing,  and  bugling  came  with  the 
hot  water  and  my  Irish  attendant  into  the  room. 
He  told  me  :  "  We'll  have  a  pretty  nice  day  for 
it.  The  weather's  often  agin  us  on  St.  Patrick's 
day."  At  the  angle  of  the  square  outside  I  saw 
a  company  of  volunteers  assembling.  They  wore 
bear-skin  caps,  some  turned  brown,  and  rusty 
green  coatees,  with  white  facings  and  crossbelts, 
a  good  deal  of  gold-lace  and  heavy  worsted  epau 
lettes,  and  were  armed  with  ordinary  muskets, 
some  of  them  with  flint-locks.  Over  their  heads 
floated  a  green  and  gold  flag  with  mystic  em 
blems,  and  a  harp  and  sunbeams.  A  gentle 
man,  with  an  imperfect  seat  on  horseback,  which 
justified  a  suspicion  that  he  was  not  to  the  man 
ner  born  of  Squire  or  Squireen,  with  much  diffi 
culty  was  getting  them  into  line,  and  endanger 
ing  his  personal  safety  by  a  large  infantry-sword, 
the  hilt  of  which  was  complicated  with  the  bri 
dle  of  his  charger  in  some  inexplicable  manner. 
This  gentleman  was  the  officer  in  command  of 
the  martial  body,  who  were  gathering  to  do  hon 
our  to  the  festival  of  the  old  country,  and  the 
din  and  clamour  in  the  streets,  the  strains  of  mu 
sic,  and  the  tramp  of  feet  outside  announced  that 
similar  associations  were  on  their  way  to  the  ren 
dezvous.  The  waiters  in  the  hotel,  all  of  whom 
were  Irish,  had  on  their  best,  and  wore  an  air  of 
pleased  importance.  Many  of  their  countrymen 
outside  on  the  pavement  exhibited  very  large 
decorations,  plates  of  metal,  and  badges  attached 
to  broad  ribands  over  their  left  breasts. 

After  breakfast  I  struggled  with  a  friend 
through  the  crowd  which  thronged  Union  Square. 
Bless  them  !  They  were  all  Irish,  judging  from 
speech,  and  gesture,  and  look ;  for  the  most  part 
decently  dressed,  and  comfortable,  evidently  bent 
on  enjoying  the  day  in  spite  of  the  cold,  and 
proud  of  the  privilege  of  interrupting  all  the 
trade  of  the  principal  streets,  in  which  the  Yan 
kees  most  do  congregate,  for  the  day.  They 
were  on  the  door-steps,  and  on  the  pavement 
men,  women,  and  children,  admiring  the  big  po 
licemen — many  of  them  compatriots — and  they 
swarmed  at  the  corners,  cheering  popular  town- 
councillors  or  local  celebrities.  Broadway  was 
equally  full.  Flags  were  flying  from  the  win 
dows  and  steeples— and  on  the  cold  breeze  came 
the  hammering  of  drums,  and  the  blasts  of  many 
wind  instruments.  The  display,  such  as  it  was*, 
partook  of  a  military  character,  though  not  much 
more  formidable  in  that  sense  than  the  march 
of  the  Trades  Unions,  or  of  Temperance  Socie 
ties.  Imagine  Broadway  lined  for  the  long 


miles  of  its  course  by  spectal^B  mostly  Hiberni 
an,  and  the  great  gaudy  stars  and  stripes,  or  as 
one  of  the  Secession  journals  I  see  styles  it,  the 
"Sanguinary  United  States  Gridiron" — waving 
in  all  directions,  whilst  up  its  centre  in  the  mud 
march  the  children  of  Erin. 

First  came  the  acting  Brigadier-General  and 
his  staff,  escorted  by  40  lancers,  very  ill-dressed, 
and  worse  mounted  ;  horses  dirty,  accoutrements 
in  the  same  condition,  bits,  bridles,  and  buttons 
rusty  and  tarnished;  uniforms  ill-fitting,  and 
badly  put  on.  But  the  red  flags  and  the  show 
pleased  the  crowd,  and  they  cheered  "  bould  Nu 
gent"  right  loudly.  A  band  followed,  some  mem 
bers  of  which  had  been  evidently  "  smiling"  with 
each  other  ;  and  next  marched  a  body  of  drum 
mers  in  military  uniform,  rattling  away  in  the 
French  fashion.  Here  comes  the  G9th  N.  Y. 
State  Militia  Regiment  —  the  battalion  which 
would  not  turn  out  when  the  Prince  of  Wales 
was  in  New  York,  and  whose  Colonel,  Corcoran, 
is  still  under  court-martial  for  his  refusal.  Well, 
the  Prince  had  no  loss,  and  the  Colonel  may 
have  had  other  besides  political  reasons  for  his 
dislike  to  parade  his  men.' 

The  regiment  turned  out,  I  should  think,  only 
200  or  220  men,  fine  fellows  enough,  but  not  in 
the  least  like  soldiers  or  militia.  The  United 
States  uniform  which  most  of  the  military  bodies 
wore,  consists  of  a  blue  tunic  and  trousers,  and  a 
kepi-like  cap,  with  "U.  S."  in  front  for  undress. 
In  full  dress  the  officers  wear  large  gold  epau 
lettes,  and  officers  and  men  a  bandit-sort  of  felt 
hat  looped  up  at  one  side,  and  decorated  with  a 
plume  of  black-ostrich  feathers  and  silk  cords. 
The  absence  of  facings,  and  the  want  of  some 
thing  to  finish  off  the  collar  and  cuffs,  render  the 
tunic  very  bald  and  unsightly.  Another  band 
closed  the  rear  of  the  69th,  and  to  eke  out  the 
military  show,  which  in  all  was  less  than  1,200 
men,  some  companies  were  borrowed  from  an 
other  regiment  of  State  Militia,  and  a  troop  of 
very  poor  cavalry  cleared  the  way  for  the  Nap- 
per-Tandy  Artillery,  which  actually  had  three 
whole  guns  with  them  !  It  was  strange  to  dwell 
on  some  of  the  names  of  the  societies  which  fol 
lowed.  For  instance,  there  were  the  "Dungan- 
non  Volunteers  of '82,"  prepared  of  course  to  vin 
dicate  the  famous  declaration  that  none  should 
make  laws  for  Ireland,  but  the  Queen,  Lords, 
and  Commons  of  Ireland !  Every  honest  Cath 
olic  among  them  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the 
Volunteers  of  '82  were  all  Protestants.  Then 
there  was  the  "  Sarsficld  Guard!"  One  cannot 
conceive  anything  more  hateful  to  the  fiery  high- 
spirited  cavalier,  than  the  republican  form  of 
Government,  which  these  poor  Irishmen  are, 
they  think,  so  fond  of.  A  good  deal  of  what 
passes  for  national  sentiment,  is  in  reality  dislike 
to  England  and  religious  animosity. 

It  was  much  more  interesting  to  see  the  long 
string  of  Benevolent,  Friendly  and  Provident 
Societies,  with  bands,  numbering  many  thou 
sands,  all  decently  clad,  and  marching  in  order 
with  banners,  insignia,  badges  and  ribands,  and 
the  Irish  flag  flying  alongside  the  "stars  and 
stripes."  I  cannot  congratulate  them  on  the 
taste  or  good  effect  of  their  accessories — on  their 
symbolical  standards,  and  ridiculous  old  harpers, 
carried  on  stages  in  "bardic  costume,"  very  like 
artificial  white  wigs  and  white  cotton  dressing- 
gowns,  but  the  actual  good  done  by  these  socie- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


ties,  is,  I  am  told,  very  great,  and  their  chanty 
would  cover  i';ir  greater  sins  than  incorrectness 
of  dress,  and  a  proneness  to  "  piper's  playing  on 
the  national  bagpipes."      The  various  societies 
mustered  upwards  of  10,000  men,  some  of  them  ' 
uniformed'  and  armed,  others  dressed  in  quaint 
garments,  and  all  as  noisy  as  music  and  talking  j 
coul  t  make  them.     The  Americans  appeared  to  | 
regard  the  whole  thing  very  much  as  an  ancient  j 
Roman  might  have  looked  on  the  Saturnalia;  j 
but  Faddy  was  in  the  ascendant,  and  could  not 
be  openly  trifled  with. 

The  crowds  remained  in  the  streets  long  after 
the  procession  had  passed,  and  I  saw  various 
pickpockets  captured  by  the  big  policemen,  and 
conveyed  to  appropriate  receptacles.  "  Was 
there  any  man  of  eminence  in  that  procession?" 
I  asked.  "No;  a  few  small  local  politicians, 
some  wealthy  store -keepers,  and  beer -saloon 
owners  perhaps ;  but  the  mass  were  of  the  small  ! 
bourgeoisie.  Such  a  man  as  Mr.  O'Conor,  who  j 
may  be  considered  at  the  head  of  the  New  York 
bar  for  instance,  would  not  take  part  in  it." 

In  the  evening  I  went,  according  to  invitation, 
to  the  Astor  House — a  large  hotel,  with  a  front 
like  a  railway  terminus,  in  the  Americo-Classical 
style,  with  great  Doric  columns  and  portico,  and 
found,  to  my  surprise,  that  the  friendly  party 
was  to  be  a  great  public  dinner.  The  halls  were 
filled  with  the  company,  few  or  none  in  evening 
dress  ;  and  in  a  few  minutes  I  was  presented  to 
at  least  twenty-four  gentlemen,  whose  names  I 
did  not  even  hear.  The  use  of  badges,  medals, 
and  ribands,  might,  at  first,  lead  a  stranger  to 
believe  he  was  in  very  distinguished  military  so 
ciety  ;  but  he  would  soon  learn  that  these  insig 
nia  were  the  decorations  of  benevolent  or  con 
vivial  associations.  There  is  a  latent  taste  for 
these  things  in  spite  of  pure  republicanism.  At 
the  dinner  there  were  Americans  of  Dutch  and 
English  descent,  some  "Yankees,"  one  or  two 
Englishmen,  Scotchmen,  and  Welchmen.  The 
chairman,  Judge  Daly,  was  indeed  a  true  son  of 
the  soil,  and  his  speeches  were  full  of  good  hu 
mour,  fluency,  and  wit;  but  his  greatest  effect 
was  produced  by  the  exhibition  of  a  tuft  of  sham 
rocks  in  a  flower  pot,  which  had  been  sent  from 
Ireland  for  the  occasion.  This  is  done  annually, 
but,  like  the  miracle  of  St.  Januarius,  it  never 
loses  its  effect,  and  always  touches  the  heart. 

I  confess  it  was  to  some  extent  curiosity  to  ob 
serve  the  sentiment  of  the  meeting,  and  a  desire 
to  see  how  Irishmen  were  affected  by  the  change 
in  their  climate,  which  led  me  to  the  room.  I 
came  away  regretting  deeply  that  so  many  na 
tives  of  the  British  Isles  should  be  animated  with 
a  hostile  feeling  towards  England,  and  that  no 
statesman  has  yet  arisen  who  can  devise  a  pan 
acea  for  the  evils  of  these  passionate  and  un 
meaning  differences  between  races  and  religions. 
Their  strong  antipathy  is  not  diminished  by  the 
impossibility  of  gratifying  it.  They  live  in  hope, 
and  certainly  the  existence  of  these  feelings  is 
not  only  troublesome  to  American  statesmen, 
but  mischievous  to  the  Irish  themselves,  inas 
much  as  they  are  rendered  with  unusual  readi 
ness  the  victims  of  agitators  or  political  intriguers. 
The  Irish  element,  as  it  is  called,  is  much  regard 
ed  in  voting  times,  by  suffraging  bishops  and 
others ;  at  other  times,  it  is  left  to  its  work  and 
its  toil  —  Mr.  Seward  and  Bishop  Hughes  are 
supposed  to  be  its  present  masters.  Undoubted 


ly  the  mass  of  those  I  saw  to-day  were  better 
clad  than  they  would  have  been  if  they  remain 
ed  at  home.  As  I  said  in  the  speech  which  I 
was  forced  to  make  much  against  my  will,  by  the 
gentle*  violence  of  'my  companions,  never  had  I 
seen  so  many  good  hats  and  coats  in  an  assem 
blage  of  Irishmen  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

March  19.  The  morning  newspapers  contain 
reports  of  last  night's  speeches  which  are  amusing 
in  one  respect,  at  all  events,  as  affording  speci 
mens  of  the  different  versions  which  may  be  given 
of  the  same  matter.  A  "citizen"  who  was  kind 
enough  to  come  in  to  shave  me,  paid  me  some 
easy  compliments,  in  the  manner  of  the  "Bar 
ber  of  Seville,"  on  what  he  termed  the  "ora 
tion"  of  the  night  before,  and  then  proceeded  to 
give  his  notions  of  the  merits  and  defects  of  the 
American  Constitution.  "  He  did  not  care  much 
about  the  Franchise — it  was  given  to  too  many 
he  thought.  A  man  must  be  five  years  resident 
in  New  York  before  he  is  admitted  to  the  privi 
leges  of  voting.  When  an  emigrant  arrived,  a 
paper  was  delivered  to  him  to  certify  the  fact, 
which  he  produced  after  a  lapse  of  five  years, 
when  he  might  be  registered  as  a  voter;  if  he 
omitted  the  process  of  registration,  he  could  how 
ever  Vote  if  identified  by  two  householders,  and 
a  low  lot,"  observed  the  barber,  "  they  are — Irish 
and  such  like.  I  don't  want  any  of  their  votes." 

In  the  afternoon  a  number  of  gentlemen  call 
ed,  and  made  the  kindest  offers  of  service ;  let 
ters  of  introduction  to  all  parts  of  the  States ; 
facilities  of  every  description — all  tendered  with 
frankness. 

I  was  astonished  to  find  little  sympathy  and 
no  respect  for  the  newly  installed  Government. 
They  were  regarded  as  obscure  or  undistinguish 
ed  men.  I  alluded  to  the  circumstance  that  one 
of  the  journals  continued  to  speak  of  "The  Pres 
ident"  in  the  most  contemptuous  manner,  and 
to  designate  him  as  the  great  "Rail-Splitter." 
"  Oh  yes,"  said  the  gentleman  with  whom  I  was 
conversing,  "  that  must  strike  you  as  a  strange 
way  of  mentioning  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  our 
great  Republic,  but  the  fact  is,  no  one  minds 
what  the  man  writes  of  any  one,  his  game  is  to 
abuse  every  respectable  man  in  the  country  in 
order  to  take  his  revenge  on  them  for  his  social 
exclusion,  and  at  the  same  time  to  please  the  ig 
norant  masses  who  delight  in  vituperation  and 
scandal." 

/hi  the  evening,  dining  again  with  my  friend 
the  banker,  I  had  a  favorable  opportunity  of 
hearing  more  of  the  special  pleading  which  is 
brought  to  bear  on  the  solution  of  the  gravest 
political  questions.  It  would  seem  as  if  a  coun-" 
cil  of  physicians  were  wrangling  with  each  other 
over  abstract  dogmas  respecting  life  and  health, 
whilst  their  patient  was  struggling  in  the  agonies 
of  death  before  them !  In  the  comfortable  and 
well-appointed  house  wherein  I  met  several  men 
of  position,  acquirements,  and  natural  sagacity, 
there  was  not  the  smallest  evidence  of  uneasiness 
on  account  of  circumstances  which,  to  the  eye  of 
a  stranger,  betokened  an  awful  crisis,  if  not  the 
impending  dissolution  of  society  itself.  Stranger 
still,  the  acts  which  are  bringing  about  such  a 
calamity  are  not  regarded  with  disfavour,  or,  at 
least,  are  not  considered  unjustifiable. 

Among  the  guests  were  the  Hon.  Horatio  Sey 
mour,  a  former  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York ;  Mr.  Tylden,  an  acute  lawyer ;  and  Mr. 


1C 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Bancroft;  the  result  left  on  my  mind  by  their 
conversations  and  arguments  was  that,  accord 
ing  to  the  Constitution,  the  Government  could 
not  employ  force  to  prevent  secession,  or  to  com 
pel  States  which  had  seceded  by  the  will  of  the 
people  to  acknowledge  the  Federal  power.  In 
fact,  according  to  them,  the  Federal  Government 
was  the  mere  machine  put  forward  by  a  Society 
of  Sovereign  States,  as  a  common  instrument  for 
certain  ministerial  acts,  more  particularly  those 
which  affected  the  external  relations  of  the  Con 
federation.  I  do  not  think  that  any  of  the  guests 
sought  to  turn  the  channel  of  talk  upon  politics, 
but  the  occasion  offered  itself  to  Mr.  Horatio  Sey 
mour  to  give  me  his  views  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  by  degrees  the  theme 
spread  over  the  table.  I  had  bought  the  "Con 
stitution"  for  three  cents  in  Broadway  in  the 
forenoon,  and  had  read  it  carefully,  but  I  could 
not  find  that  it  was  self-expounding ;  it  referred 
itself  to  the  Supreme  Court,  but  what  was  to  sup 
port  the  Supreme  Court  in  a  contest  with  armed 
power,  either  of  Government  or  people  ?  There 
was  not  a  man  who  maintained  the  Government 
had  any  power  to  coerce  the  people  of  a  State, 
or  to  force  a  State  to  remain  in  the  Union,  or 
under  the  action  of  the  Federal  Government;  in 
other  words,  the  symbol  of  power  at  Washington 
is  not  at  all  analogous  to  that  which  represents 
an  established  Government  in  other  countries. 
Quid  prosunt  legis  sine  armis?  Although  they 
admitted  the  Southern  leaders  had  meditated 
"the  treason  against  the  Union"  years  ago,  they 
could  not  bring  themselves  to  allow  their  old  op 
ponents,  the  Republicans  now  in  power,  to  dis 
pose  of  the  armed  force  of  the  Union  against 
their  brother  democrats  in  the  Southern  States. 

Mr.  Seymour  is  a  man  of  compromise,  but  his 
views  go  farther  than  those  which  were  enter 
tained  by  his  party  ten  years  ago.  Although  se 
cession  would  produce  revolution,  it  was,  never 
theless,  "a  right,"  founded  on  abstract  princi 
ples,  which  could  scarcely  be  abrogated  consist 
ently  with  .due  regard  to  the  original  compact. 
One  of  the  company  made  a  remark  which  was 
trne  enough,  I  dare  say.  We  were  talking  of 
the  difficulty  of  relieving  Fort  Sumter — an  in 
fallible  topic  just  now.  "If  the  British  or  any 
foreign  power  were  threatening  the  fort,"  said 
he,  "our  Government  would  find  means  of  re 
lieving  it  fast  enough."  In  fact,  the  Federal 
Government  is  groping  in  the  dark ;  and  whilst 
its  friends  are  telling  it  to  advance  boldly,  there 
are  myriad  voices  shrieking  out  in  its  ears,  "If 
you  put  out  a  foot  you  are  lost."  There  is  nei 
ther  army  nor  navy  available,  and  the  ministers 
have  no  machinery  of  rewards,  and  means  of  in 
trigue,  or  modes  of  gaining  adherents  known  to 
European  administrations.  The  democrats  be 
hold  with  silent  satisfaction  the  troubles  into 
which  the  republican  triumph  has  plunged  the 
country,  and  are  not  at  all  disposed  to  extricate 
them.  The  most  notable  way  of  impeding  their 
efforts  is  to  knock  them  down  with  the  "Consti 
tution"  every  time  they  rise  to  the  surface  and 
begin  to  swim  out. 

New  York  society,  however,  is  easy  in  its  mind 
just  now,  and  the  upper  world  of  millionaire  mer 
chants,  bankers,  contractors,  and  great  traders 
are  glad  that  the  vulgar  republicans  are  suffering 
for  their  success.  Not  a  man  there  but  resented 
the  influence  given  by  universal  suffrage  to  the 


mob  of  the  city,  and  complained  of  the  intoler 
able  effects  of  their  ascendency — of  the  corrup 
tion  of  the  municipal  bodies,  the  venality  of  elect 
ors  and  elected,  and  the  abuse,  waste,  and  profli 
gate  outlay  of  the  public  funds.  Of  these  there 
were  many  illustrations  given  to  me,  garnished 
with  historiettes  of  some  of  the  civic  dignitaries, 
and  of  their  coadjutors  in  the  press ;  but  it  did 
not  require  proof  that  universal  suffrage  in  a  city 
of  which  perhaps  three-fourths  of  the  voters  were 
born  abroad  or  of  foreign  parents,  and  of  whom 
many  were  the  scum  swept  off  the  seethings  of 
European  populations,  must  work  most  injurious 
ly  on  property  and  capital.  I  confess  it  is  to  be 
much  wondered  at  that  the  consequences  are  not 
more  evil ;  but  no  doubt  the  time  is  coming 
when  the  mischief  can  no  longer  be  borne,  and  a 
social  reform  and  revolution  must  be  inevitable. 

Within  only  a  very  few  hundreds  of  yards 
from  the  house  and  picture-gallery  of  Mons. 

B ,  the  representative  of  European  millions, 

are  the  hovels  and  lodgings  of  his  equals  in  polit 
ical  power.  This  evening  I  visited  the  house  of 

Mons.  B ,  where  his  wife  had  a  reception,  to 

which  nearly  the  whole  of  the  party  went.  When 
a  man  looks  at  a  suit  of  armour  made  to  order 
by  the  first  blacksmith  in  Europe,  he  observes 
that  the  finish  of  the  joints  and  hinges  is  much 
higher  than  in  the  old  iron  clothes  of  the  former 
time.  Possibly  the  metal  is  better,  and  the  chas 
ings  and  garniture  as  good  as  the  work  of  Milan, 
but  the  observer  is  not  for  a  moment  led  to  imag 
ine  that  the  fabric  has  stood  proof  of  blows,  or 
that  it  smacks  of  ancient  watch-fire.  If  he  were 
asked  why  it  is  so,  he  could  not  tell ;  any  more 
perhaps  than  he  could  define  exactly  the  differ 
ence  between  the  lustrous,  highly-jewelled,  well- 
greaved  Achaian  of  New  York  and  the  very  less 
effective  and  showy  creature  who  will  in  every 
society  over  the  world  pass  muster  as  a  gentle 
man.  Here  was  an  elegant  house — I  use  the 
word  in  its  real  meaning — with  pretty  statues, 
rich  carpets,  handsome  furniture,  and  a  gallery 
of  charming  Meissoniers  and  genre  pieces ;  the 
saloons  admirably  lighted — a  fair  fine  large  suite, 
filled  with  the  prettiest  women  in  the  most  de 
lightful  toilettes,  with  a  proper  fringe  of  young 
men,  orderly,  neat,  and  well  turned-out,  fretting 
against  the  usual  advanced  posts  of  turbaned  and 
jewelled  dowagers,  and  provided  with  every  ac 
cessory  to  make  the  whole  good  society  ;  for  there 
was  wit,  sense,  intelligence,  vivacity;  and  yet 
there  was  something  wanting — riot  in  host  or 
hostess,  or  company,  or  house — where  was  it? — 
which  was  conspicuous  by  its  absence.  Mr.  Ban 
croft  was  kind  enough  to  introduce  me  to  the 
most  lovely  faces  and  figures,  and  so  far  enabled 
me  to  judge  that  nothing  could  be  more  beauti 
ful,  easy,  or  natural  than  the  womanhood  or  girl 
hood  of  New  York.  It  is  prettiness  rather  than 
fineness ;  regular,  intelligent,  wax  -  like  faces, 
graceful  little  figures ;  none  of  the  grandiose 
Roman  type  which  Von  Raumer  recognised  in 
London,  as  in  the  Holy  City,  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury  ago.  Natheless,  the  young  men  of  New 
York  ought  to  be  thankful  and  grateful,  and  try 
to  be  worthy  of  it.  Late  in  the  evening  I  saw 
these  same  young  men,  Novi  Eboracenses,  at 
their  club,  dicing  for  drinks  and  oathing  for  noth 
ing,  and  all  very  friendly  and  hospitable. 

The  club-house  is  remarkable  as  the  mansion 
of  a  happy  man  who  invented  or  patented  a  wa- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


17 


terproof  hat-lining,  whereby  he  built  a  sort  of 
Sallustian  villa,  with  a  central  court-yard,  a 
1'Alhambra,  with  fountains  and  flowers,  now 
passed  away  to  the  New  York  Club.  Here  was 
Pratt's,  or  the  defunct  Fielding,  or  the  old 
C.  C.  C.'s  in  disregard  of  time  and  regard  of 
drinks — and  nothing  more. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Streets  and  shops  in  New  York— Literature— A  funeral- 
Dinner  at  Mr.  H 's— Dinner  at  Mr.  Bancroft's— 

Political  and  social  features — Literary  breakfast;  Hee- 
nan  and  Sayers. 

March  20th. — The  papers  are  still  full  of  Sum- 
ter  and  Pickens.  The  reports  that  they  are  or 
are  not  to  be  relieved  are  stated  and  contradict 
ed  in  each  paper  without  any  regard  to  individ 
ual  consistency.  The  "Tribune"  has  an  article 
on  my  speech  at  the  St.  Patrick's  dinner,  to 
which  it  is  pleased  to  assign  reasons  and  mo 
tives  which  the  speaker,  at  all  events,  never  had 
in  making  it. 

Received  several  begging  letters,  some  of  them 
apparently  with  only  too  much  of  the  stamp  of 
reality  about  their  tales  of  disappointment,  dis 
tress,  and  suffering.  In  the  afternoon  went 
down  Broadway,  which  was  crowded,  notwith 
standing  the  piles  of  blackened  snow  by  the 
kerbstones,  and  the  sloughs  of  mud,  and  half 
frozen  pools  at  the  crossings.  Visited  several 
large  stores  or  shops — some  rival  the  best  estab 
lishments  in  Paris  or  London  in  richness  and 
in  value,  and  far  exceed  them  in  size  and  splen 
dour  of  exterior.  Some  on  Broadway,  built  of 
marble,  or  of  fine  cut  stone,  cost  from  GOOO/.  to 
8000/.  a  year  in  mere  rent.  Here,  from  the 
base  to  the  fourth  or  fifth  story,  are  piled  collec 
tions  of  all  the  world  can  produce,  often  in  ex 
cess  of  all  possible  requirements  of  the  country ; 
indeed  I  was  told  that  the  United  States  have  al 
ways  imported  more  goods  than  they  could  pay 
for.  Jewellers'  shops  are  not  numerous,  but 
there  are  two  in  Broadway  which  have  splendid 
collections  of  jewels,  and  of  workmanship  in 
gold  and  silver,  displayed  to  the  greatest  advan 
tage  in  fine  apartments  decorated  with  black 
marble,  statuary,  and  plate-glass. 
J  New  York  has  certainly  all  the  air  of  a  "nou- 
veau  riche."  There  is  about  it  an  utter  absence 
of  any  appearance  of  a  grandfather — one  does 
not  see  even  such  evidences  of  eccentric  taste  as 
are  afforded  in  Paris  and  London,  by  the  exist 
ence  of  shops  where  the  old  families  of  a  coun 
try  cast  oif  their  "exuviae"  which  are  sought  by 
the  new,  that  they  may  persuade  the  world  they 
are  old ;  there  is  no  curiosity  shop,  not  to  speak 
of  a  Wardour  Street,  and  such  efforts  as  are 
made  to  supply  the  deficiency  reveal  an  enor 
mous  amount  of  ignorance  or  of  bad  taste.  The 
new  arts,  however,  flourish  ;  the  plague  of  pho 
tography  has  spread  through  all  the  corners  of 
the  city,  and  the  shop-windows  glare  with  fla 
grant  displays  of  the  most  tawdry  art.  In  some 
of  the  large  booksellers'  shops — Appleton's  for 
example — are  striking  proofs  of  the  activity  of 
the  American  press,  if  hot  of  the  vigour  and 
originality  of  the  American  intellect.  I  passed 
down  long  rows  of  shelves  laden  with  the  works 
of  European  authors,  for  the  most  part,  oh 
shame !  stolen  and  translated  into  American 
B 


type  without  the  smallest  compunction  or  scru 
ple,  and  without  the  least  intention  of  ever 
yielding  the  most  pitiful  deodand  to  the  au 
thors.  Mr.  Appleton  sells  no  less  than  one 
million  and  a  half  of  Webster's  spelling  books 
a  year;  his  tables  are  covered  with  a  flood  of 
pamphlets,  some  for,  others  against  coercion ; 
some  for,  others  opposed  to  slavery, — but  when 
I  asked  for  a  single  solid,  substantial  work  on 
the  present  difficulty,  I  was  told  there  was  not 
one  published  worth  a  cent.  With  such  men 
as  Audubon  and  Wilson  in  natural  history, 
Prescott  and  Motley  in  history,  Washington  Ir 
ving  and  Cooper  in  fiction,  Longfellow  and  Ed 
gar  Poe  in  poetry,  even  Bryant  and  the  respect 
abilities  in  rhyme,  and  Emerson  as  essayist, 
there  is  no  reason  why  New  York  should  be  a 
paltry  imitation  of  Leipzig,  without  the  good 
faith  of  Tauchnitz. 

I  dined  with  a  litterateur  well  known  in  En 
gland  to  many  people  a  year  or  two  ago  — 
sprightly,  loquacious,  and  well  informed,  if  nei 
ther  witty  nor  profound — now  a  Southern  man 
with  Southern  proclivities,  as  Americans  say ; 
once  a  Southern  man  with  such  strong  anti- 
slavery  convictions,  that  his  expression  of  them 
in  an  English  quarterly  had  secured  him  the 
hostility  of  his  own  people — one  of  the  emana- 
tjons  of  American  literary  life  for  which  their 
own  country  finds  no  fitting  receiver.  As  the 
best  proof  of  his  sincerity,  he  has  just  now  aban 
doned  his  connection  with  one  of  the  New  York 
papers  on  the  republican  side,  because  he  be 
lieved  that  the  course  of  the  journal  was  dic 
tated  by  anti-Southern  fanaticism.  He  is,  in 
fact,  persuaded  that  there  will  be  a  civil  war, 
and  that  the  South  will  have  much  of  the  right 
on  its  side  in  the  contest.  At  his  rooms  were 
Mons.  B ,  Dr.  Gwin,  a  Californian  ex-sena 
tor,  Mr.  Barlow,  and  several  of  the  leading  men 
of  a  certain  clique  in  New  York.  The  Ameri 
cans  complain,  or  assert,  that  we  do  not  under 
stand  them,  and  I  confess  the  reproach,  or  state 
ment,  was  felt  to  be  well  founded  by  myself  at 
all  events,  when  I  heard  it  declared  and  admit 
ted  that  "if  Mons.  Belmont  had  not  gone  to  the 
Charleston  Convention,  the  present  crisis  would 
never  have  occurred." 

March  22nd. — A  snow-storm  worthy  of  Mos 
cow  or  Riga  flew  through  New  York  all  day,  de 
positing  more  food  for  the  mud.  I  paid  a  visit 
to  Mr.  Horace  Greeley,  and  had  a  long  conver 
sation  with  him.  He  expressed  great  pleasurtf 
at  the  intelligence  that  I  was  going  to  visit  the 
Southern  States.  "Be  sure  you  examine  the 
slave-pens.  They  will  be  afraid  to  refuse  you, 
and  you  can  tell  the  truth."  As  the  capital  and 
the  South  form  the  chief  attractions  at  present, 
I  am  preparing  to  escape  from  "the  divine 
calm"  and  snows  of  New  York.  I  was  recom 
mended  to  visit  many  places  before  I  left  New 
York,  principally  hospitals  and  prisons.  Sing- 
Sing,  the  state  penitentiary,  is  "  claimed,"  as  the 
Americans  say,  to  be  the  first  "institution"  of  its 
kind  in  the  world.  Time  presses,  however,  and 
Sing- Sing  is  a  long  way  off.  I  am  told  a  sys 
tem  of  torture  prevails  there  for  hardened  or  ob 
durate  offenders — torture  by  dropping  cold  wa 
ter  on  them,  torture  by  thumb-screws,  and  the 
like — rather  opposed  to  the  views  of  prison  phi 
lanthropists  in  modern  days. 

March  23rd. — It  is  announced  positively  that 


13 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


the  authorities  in  Pensacola  and  Charleston  have  I 
refused  to  allow  any  further  supplies  to  be  sent  | 
to  Fort  Pickens,  the  United  States  fleet  in  the 
j  Gulf,  and  to  Fort  Sumter.  Everywhere  the  j 
N  Southern  leaders  are  forcing  on  a  solution  with 
decision  and  energy,  whilst  the  Government  ap 
pears  to  be  helplessly  drifting  with  the  current 
of  events,  having  neither  bow  nor  stern,  neither 
keel  nor  deck,  neither  rudder,  compass,  sails,  or 
steam.  Mr.  Seward  has  declined  to  receive  or 
hold  any  intercourse  with  the  three  gentlemen 
called  Southern  Commissioners,  who  repaired  to 
Washington  accredited  by  the  Government  and 
Congress  of  the  Seceding  States  now  sitting  at 
Montgomery,  so  that  there  is  no  channel  of  me 
diation  or  means  of  adjustment  left  open.  I 
hear,  indeed,  that  Government  is  secretly  pre 
paring  what  force  it  can  to  strengthen  the  garri 
son  at  Pickens,  and  to  reinforce  Sumter  at  any 
hazard  ;  but  that  its  want  of  men,  ships,  and 
money  compels  it  to  temporise,  lest  the  Southern 
authorities  should  forestall  their  designs  by  a  vig 
orous  attack  on  the  enfeebled  forts. 

There  is,  in  reality,  very  little  done  by  New 
York  to  support  or  encourage  the  Government 
in  any  decided  policy,  and  the  journals  are  more 
engaged  now  in  abusing  each  other,  and  in  small 
party  aggressive  warfare,  than  in  the  perform 
ance  of  the  duties  of  a  patriotic  press,  whose 
mission  at  such  a  time  is  beyond  all  question  the 
resignation  of  little  differences  for  the  sake  of 
the  whole  country,  and  an  entire  devotion  to  its 
safety,  honour,  and  integrity.  But  the  New  York 
people  must  have  their  intellectual  drams  every 
morning,  and  it  matters  little  what,  the  course  of 
Government  may  be,  so  long  as  the  aristocratic 
democrat  can  be  amused  by  ridicule  of  the  Great 
Rail-Splitter,  or  a  vivid  portraiture  of  Mr.  Hor 
ace  Greeley's  old  coat,  hat,  breeches,  and  um 
brella.  The  coarsest  personalities  are  read  with 
gusto,  and  attacks  of  a  kind  which  would  not 
have  been  admitted  into  the  "Age"  or  "Satir 
ist"  in  their  worst  days,  form  the  staple  leading 
articles  of  one  or  two  of  the  most  largely  circu 
lated  journals  in  the  city.  "  Slang"  in  its  worst 
Americanised  form  is  freely  used  in  sensation 
headings  and  leaders,  and  a  class  of  advertise 
ments  which  are  not  allowed  to  appear  in  re 
spectable  English  papers,  have  possession  of  col 
umns  of  the  principal  newspapers,  few,  indeed, 
excluding  them.  It  is  strange,  too,  to  see  in 
journals  which  profess  to  represent  the  civilisa 
tion  and  intelligence  of  the  most  enlightened 
and  highly  educated  people  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  advertisements  of  sorcerers,  wizards,  and 
fortune-tellers  by  the  score — "wonderful  clair 
voyants,"  "  the  seventh  child  of  a  seventh  child," 
"mesmeristic  necromancers,"  and  the  like,  who 
can  tell  your  thoughts  as  soon  as  you  enter  the 
room,  can  secure  the  affections  you  prize,  give 
lucky  numbers  in  lotteries,  and  make  everybody's 
fortunes  but  their  own.  Then  there  are  the 
most  impudent  quack  programmes — very  doubt 
ful  "personals"  addressed  to  "the  young  lady 
with  black  hair  and  blue  eyes,  who  'got  out  of 
the  omnibus  at  the  corner 'of  7th  Street" — ap 
peals  by  "  a  lady  about  to  be  confined"  to  any 
respectable  person  who  is  desirous  of  adopting  a 
child  :  all  rather  curious  reading  for  a  stranger, 
or  for  a  family. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected,  of  course,  that  Now 
York  is  a  very  pure  city,  for  more  than  London 


or  Paris  it  is  the  sewer  of  nations.  It  is  a  city 
of  luxury  also — French  and  Italian  cooks  and 
milliners,  German  and  Italian  musicians,  high 
prices,  extravagant  tastes  and  dressing,  money 
readily  made,  a  life  in  hotels,  bar-rooms,  heavy 
gambling,  sporting,  and  prize-fighting  flourish 
here,  and  combine  to  lower  the  standard  of  the 
bourgeoisie  at  all  events.  Where  wealth  is  the 
sole  aristocracy,  there  is  great  danger  of  mistak 
ing  excess  and  profusion  for  elegance  and  good 
taste.  To-day  as  I  was  going  down  Broadway, 
some  dozen  or  more  of  the  most  over-dressed 
men  I  ever  saw  were  pointed  out  to  me  as 
"sports;"  that  is,  men  who  lived  by  gambling- 
houses  and  betting  on  races;  and  the  class  is  so 
numerous  that  it  has  its  own  influence,  particu 
larly  at  elections,  when  the  power  of  a  hard-hit 
ting  prize-fighter  with  a  following  makes  itself 
unmistakeably  felt.  Young  America  essays  to 
look  like  martial  France  in  mufti,  but  the  hat 
and  the  coat  suited  to  the  Colonel  of  Carabiniers 
en  retraite  do  not  at  all  become  the  thin,  tall, 
rather  long-faced  gentlemen  one  sees  lounging 
about  Broadway.  It  is  true,  indeed,  the  type, 
though  not  French,  is  not  English.  The  char 
acteristics  of  the  American  are  straight  hair, 
keen,  bright,  penetrating  eyes,  and  want  of  col 
our  in  the  cheeks. 

March  25th. — I  had  an  invitation  to  meet  sev 
eral  members  of  the  New  York  press  association 
at  breakfast.  Among  the  company  were — Mr. 
Bayard  Taylor,  with  whose  extensive  notes  of 
travel  his  countrymen  are  familiar — a  kind  of 
enlarged  Inglis,  fullj  of  the  genial  spirit  which 
makes  travelling  in  dbmpany  so  agreeable,  but  he 
has  come  back  as  travellers  generally  do,  satis 
fied  there  is  no  country  like  his  own — Prince 
Leeboo  loved  his  own  isle  the  best  after  all — Mr. 
Raymond,  of  the  "New  York  Times"  (formerly 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  State)  ;  Mr.  Olm- 
sted,  the  indefatigable,  able,  and  earnest  writer, 
whom  to  desci'ibe  simply  as  an  Abolitionist 
would  be  to  confound  with  ignorant  if  zealous, 
unphilosophical,  and  impracticable  men  ;  Mr. 
Dana,  of  the  "Tribune;"  Mr.  Hurlbert,  of  the 
"Times  ;"  the  Editor  of  the  "Courier  des  Etats 
Unis;"  Mr.  Young,  of  the  "Albion,"  which  is 
the  only  English  journal  published  in  the  States ; 
and  others.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  pleasant 
conversation,  though  every  one  differed  with  his 
neighbour,  as  a  matter  of  course,  as  soon  as  he 
touched  on  politics.  There  was  talk  de  omnibus 
rebut  (t  quibusdam  aliis,  such  as  Heenan  and 
Savers,  Secession  and  Sumter,  the  press,  politi 
cians,  New  York  life,  and  so  on.  The  first  topic 
occupied  a  larger  place  than  it  was  entitled  to, 
because  in  all  likelihood  the  sporting  editor  of 
one  of  the  papers  who  was  present  expressed, 
perhaps,  some  justifiable  feeling  in  reference  to 
the  refusal  of  the  belt  to  the  American.  All  ad 
mitted  the  courage  and  great  endurance  of  his 
antagonist,  but  seemed  convinced  that  Heenan, 
if  not  the  better  man,  was  at  least  the  victor  in 
that  particular  contest.  It  would  be  strange  to 
see  the  great  tendency  of  Americans  to  institute 
comparisons  with  ancient  and  recognised  stand 
ards,  if  it  were  not  that  they  are  adopting  the 
natural  mode  of  judging  of  their  own  capabili 
ties.  The  nation  is  like  a  growing  lad  who  is 
constantly  testing  his  powers  in  competition  with 
his  elders.  He  is  in  his  youth  and  nonage,  and 
he  is  calling  down  the  Itines  and  alleys  to  nil 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


19 


comers  to  look  at  his  muscle,  to  run  against  or 
to  fight  him.  It  is  a  sign  of  youth,  not  a  proof 
of  weakness,  though  it  does  offend  the  old  hands 
and  vex  the  veterans. 

Then  one  finds  that  Great  Britain  is  often 
treated  very  much  as  an  old  Peninsula  man  may 
be  by  a  set  of  young  soldiers  at  a  club.  He  is 
no  doubt  a  very  gallant  fellow,  and  has  done  very 
fine  things  in  his  day,  and  he  is  listened  to  with 
respectful  endurance,  but  there  is  a  secret  belief 
that  he  will  never  do  anything  very  great  again. 

One  of  the  gentlemen  present  said  that  En 
gland  might  dispute  the  right  of  the  United 
States  Government  to  blockade  the  ports  of  her 
own  States,  to  which  she  was  entitled  to  access 
under  treaty,  and  might  urge  that  such  a  block 
ade  was  not  justifiable ;  but  then,  it  was  argued, 
that  the  President  could  open  and  shut  ports  as 
he  pleased ;  and  that  he  might  close  the  South 
ern  ports  by  a  proclamation  in  the  nature  of  an 
Order  of  Council.  It  was  taken  for  granted  that 
Great  Britain  would  only  act  on  sordid  motives, 
but  that  the  well  known  affection  of  France  for 
the  United  States  is  to  check  the  selfishness  of 
her  rival,  and  prevent  a  speedy  recognition. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Off  to  the  railway  station— Eailway  carriages— Philadel 
phia  —  Washington  —  Willard's  Hotel  — Mr.  Seward— 
North  and  South — The  ''State  Department"  at  Wash 
ington— President  Lincoln — Dinner  at  Mr.  Seward's. 

AFTER  our  pleasant  breakfast  came  that  ne 
cessity  for  activity  which  makes  such  meals  dis 
guised  as  mere  light  morning  repasts  take  their 
revenge.  I  had  to  pack  up,  and  I  am  bound  to 
say  the  moral  aid  afforded  me  by  the  waiter, 
who  stood  with  a  sympathising  expression  of 
face,  and  looked  on  as  I  wrestled  with  boots, 
books,  and  great  coats,  was  of  a  most  compre 
hensive  character.  At  last  I  conquered,  and  at 
six  o'clock  P.  M.  I  left  the  Clarendon,  and  was 
conveyed  over  the  roughest  and  most  execrable 
pavements  through  several  miles  of  unsympa 
thetic,  gloomy,  dirty  streets,  and  crowded*  thor 
oughfares,  over  jaw-wrenching  street-railway 
tracks,  to  a  large  wooden  shed  covered  with  in 
scriptions  respecting  routes  and  destinations  6n 
the  bank  of  the  river,  which  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  see,  was  bordered  by  similar  establish 
ments,  where  my  baggage  was  deposited  in  the 
mud.  There  were  no  porters,  none  of  the  rec 
ognised  and  established  aides  to  locomotion  to 
which  we  are  accustomed  in  Europe,  but  a  num 
ber  of  amateurs  divided  the  spoil",  and  carried  it 
into  the  offices,  whilst  I  was  directed  to  struggle 
for  my  ticket  in  another  little  wooden  box,  from 
which  I  presently  received  the  necessary  docu 
ment,  full  of  the  dreadful  warnings  and  condi 
tions,  which  railway  companies  inflict  on  the 
public  in  all  free  countries. 

The  whole  of  my  luggage,  except  a  large  bag, 
was  taken  charge  of  by  a  man  at  the  New  York 
side  of  the  ferry,  who  "checked  it  through"  to 
the  capital — giving  me  a  slip  of  brass  with  a 
number  corresponding  with  a  brass  ticket  for  each 
piece.  When  the  boat  arrived  at  the  stage  at 
the  other  side  of  the  Hudson,  in  my  innocence  I 
called  for  a  porter  to  take  my  bag.  The  passen 
gers  were  moving  out  of  the  capacious  ferry-boat 
in  a  steady  stream,  and  the  steam  throat  and  bell 


of  the  engine  were  going  whilst  I  was  looking 
for  my  porter;  but  at  last  a  gentleman  passing 
said,  "I  guess  y'ill  remain  here  a  considerable 
time  before  y'ill  get  any  one  to  come  for  that 
bag  of  yours,"  and  taking  the  hint,  I  just  got  off 
in  time  to  stumble  into  a  long  box  on  wheels, 
with  a  double  row  of  most  uncomfortable  seats, 
and  a  passage  down  the  middle,  where  I  found 
a  place  beside  Mr.  Sanford,  the  newly-appoint 
ed  United  States  Minister  to  Belgium,  who  was 
kind  enough  to  take  me  under  his  charge  to 
Washington. 

The  night  was  closing  in  very  fast  as  the  train 
started,  but  such  glimpses  as  I  had  of  the  contin 
uous  line  of  pretty-looking  villages  of  wooden 
houses,  two  stories  high,  painted  white,  each  with 
its  Corinthian  portico,  gave  a  most  favourable 
impression  of  the  comfort  and  prosperity  of  the 
people.  The  rail  passed  through  the  main  street 
of  most  of  these  hamlets  and  villages,  and  the 
bell  of  the  engine  was  tolled  to  warn  the  inhab 
itants,  who  drew  up  on  the  side  walks  and  let 
us  go  by.  Soon  the  white  houses  faded  away 
into  faint  blurred  marks  on  the  black  ground  of 
the  landscape,  or  twinkled  with  starlike  lights, 
and  there  was  nothing  more  to  see.  The  pas 
sengers  were  crowded  as  close  as  they  could  pack, 
and  as  there  was  an  immense  iron  stove  in  the 
centre  of  the  car,  the  heat  and  stuffiness  became 
most  trying,  although  I  had  been  undergoing  the 
ordeal  of  the  stove-heated  New  York  houses  for 
nearly  a  week.  Once  a  minute,  at  least,  the  door 
at  either  end  of  the  carriage  was  opened,  and 
then  closed  with  a  sharp  crashing  noise,  that 
jarred  the  nerves,  and  effectually  prevented  sleep. 
It  generally  was  done  by  a  man  whose  sole  ob 
ject  seemed  to  be  to  walk  up  the  centre  of  the 
carriage  in  order  to  go  out  of  the  opposite  door 
— occasionally  it  was  the  work  of  the  newspaper 
boy,  with  a  sheaf  of  journals  and  trashy  illus 
trated  papers  under  his  arm.  Now  and  then  it 
was  the  conductor;  but  the  periodical  visitor 
was  a  young  gentleman  with  a  chain  and  rings, 
who  bore  a  tray  before  him,  and  solicited  orders 
for  "gum  drops,"  and  "lemon  drops,"  which, 
with  tobacco,  apples,  and  cakes,  were  consumed 
in  great  quantities  by  the  passengers. 

At  10  o'clock,  P.M.,  we  crossed  the  river  by  a 
ferry  boat  to  Philadelphia,  and  djove  through 
the  streets,  stopping  for  supper  a  few  moments 
at  the  La  Pierre  Hotel.  To  judge  from  the  vast 
extent  of  the  streets,  of  small,  low,  yet  snug-look 
ing  houses,  through  which  we  passed,  Philadel 
phia  must  contain  in  comfort  the  largest  number 
of  small  householders  of  any  city  in  the  world. 
At  the  other  terminus  of  the  rail,  to  which  we 
drove  in  a  carriage,  we  procured  for  a  small 
sum,  a  dollar  I  think,  berths  in  a  sleeping  car, 
an  American  institution  of  considerable  merit. 
Unfortunately  a  party  of  prize-fighters  had  a 
mind  to  make  themselves  comfortable,  and  the 
result  was  anything  but  conducive  to  sleep. 
They  had  plenty  of  whiskey,  and  were  full  of 
song  and  fight,  nor  was  it  possible  to  escape  their 
urgent  solicitations  "to  take  a  drink,"  by  feign 
ing  the  soundest  sleep.  One  of  these,  a  big  man, 
with  a  broken  nose,  a  mellow  eye,  and  a  very 
large  display  of  rings,  jewels,  chains  and  pins, 
was  in  very  high  spirits,  and  informed  us  he  was 
' '  Going  to  Washington  to  get  a  foreign  mission 
from  Bill  Seward.  He  wouldn't  take  Paris,  as 
he  didn't  care  much  about  French  or  French- 


20 


MY  DIARY  NOKTH  AND  SOUTH. 


men  ;  but  he'd  just  like  to  show  John  Bull  how 
to  do  it ;  or  he'd  take  Japan  if  they  were  very 
pressing."  Another  told  us  he  was  "Going  to 
the  bosom  of  Uncle  Abe"  (meaning  the  Presi 
dent) —  "that  he  knew  him  well  in  Kentucky 
years  ago,  and  a  high  toned  gentleman  he  was." 
Any  attempts  to  persuade  them  to  retire  to  rest 
made  by  the  conductors  were  treated  with  sover 
eign  contempt,  but  at  last  whiskey  asserted  its 
supremacy,  and  having  established  the  point  that 

they  "  would  not  sleep  unless  they pleased," 

they  slept  and  snored. 

At  six,  A.M.,  we  were  roused  up  by  the  arrival 
of  the  train  at  Washington,  having  crossed  great 
rivers  and  traversed  cities  without  knowing  it 
during  the  night.  I  looked  out  and  saw  a  vast 
mass  of  white  marble  towering  above  us  on  the 
left,  stretching  out  in  colonnaded  porticoes,  and 
long  flanks  of  windowed  masonry,  and  surmount 
ed  by  an  unfinished  cupola,  from  which  scaffold 
and  'cranes  raised  their  black  arms.  This  was 
the  Capitol.  To  the  right  was  a  cleared  space 
of  mud,  sand,  and  fields  studded  with  wooden 
sheds  and  huts,  beyond  which,  again,  could  be 
seen  rudimentary  streets  of  small  red  brick 
houses,  and  some  church-spires  above  them. 

Emerging  from  the  station,  we  found  a  vocif 
erous  crowd  of  blacks,  who  were  the  hackney- 
coachmen  of  the  place ;  but  Mr.  Sanford  had  his 
carriage  in  waiting,  and  drove  me  straight  to 
Willard's  Hotel,  where  he  consigned  me  to  the 
landlord  at  the  bar.  Our  route  lay  through 
Pennsylvania  avenue — a  street  of  much  breadth 
and  length,  lined  with  selanthus  trees,  each  in  a 
white-washen  wooded  sentry  box,  and  by  most 
irregularly-built  houses  in  all  kinds  of  material, 
from  deal  plank  to  marble — of  all  heights,  and 
every  sort  of  trade.  Few  shop-windows  were 
open,  and  the  principal  population  consisted  of 
blacks,  who  were  moving  about  on  domestic  af 
fairs.  At  one  end  of  the  long  vista  there  is  the 
Capitol ;  and  at  the  other,  the  Treasury  build 
ings — a  fine  block  in  marble,  with  the  usual 
American  classical  colonnades. 

Close  to  these  rises  the  great  pile  of  Willard's 
Hotel,  now  occupied  by  applicants  for  office,  and 
by  the  members  of  the  newly- assembled  Con 
gress.  It  is  a  quadrangular  mass  of  rooms,  six 
stories  high,  and  some  hundred  yards  square ; 
and  it  probaoly  contains  at  this  moment  more 
scheming,  plotting,  planning  heads,  more  aching 
and  joyful  hearts,  than  any  building  of  the  same 
size  ever  held  in  the  world.  I  was  ushered  into 
a  bed-room  which  had  just  been  vacated  by  some 
candidate — whether  he  succeeded  or  not  I  can 
not  tell,  but  if  his  testimonials  spoke  truth,  he 
ought  to  have  been  selected  at  once  for  the  high 
est  office.  The  room  was  littered  with  printed 
copies  of  letters  testifying  that  J.  Smith,  of  Hart 
ford,  Conn.,  was  about  the  ablest,  honestest,  clev 
erest,  and  best  man  the  writers  ever  knew.  Up 
and  down  the  long  passages  doors  were  opening 
and  shutting  for  men  with  papers  bulging  out  of 
their  pockets,  who  hurried  as  if  for  their  life  in 
and  out,  and  the  building  almost  shook  with  the 
tread  of  the  candidature,  which  did  not  always 
in  its  present  aspect  justify  the  correctness  of  the 
original  appellation. 

It  was  a  remarkable  sight,  and  difficult  to  un 
derstand  unless  seen.  From  California,  Texas, 
from  the  Indian  Reserves,  and  the  Mormon  ter 
ritory,  from  Nebraska,  as  from  the  remotest  bor 


ders  of  Minniesota,  from  every  portion  of  the 
vast  territories  of  the  Union,  except  from  the  Se 
ceded  States,  the  triumphant  republicans  had 
winged  their  way  to  the  prey. 

There  were  crowds  in  the  hall  through  which 
one  could  scarce  make  his  way — the  writing- 
room  was  crowded,  and  the  rustle  of  pens  rose  to 
a  little  breeze — the  smoking-room,  the  bar,  the 
barbers,  the  reception-room,  the  ladies'  drawing- 
room — all  were  crowded.  At  present  not  less 
than  2,500  people  dine  in  the  public  room  every 
day.  On  the  kitchen  floor  there  is  a  vast  apart 
ment,  a  hall  without  carpets  or  any  furniture  but 
plain  chairs  and  tables,  which  are  ranged  in  close 
rows,  at  which  flocks  of  people  are  feeding,  or 
discoursing,  or  from  which  they  are  flying  away. 
The  servants  never  cease  shoving  the  chairs  to 
and  fro  with  a  harsh  screeching  noise  over  the 
floor,  so  that  one  can  scarce  hear  his  neighbour 
speak.  If  he  did,  he  would  probably  hear  as  I 
did,  at  this -.very  hotel,  a  man  order  breakfast, 
"Black  tea  and  toast,  scrambled  eggs,  fresh 
spring  shad,  wild  pigeon,  pigs'  feet,  two  robins 
on  toast,  oysters,"  and  a  quantity  of  breads  and 
cakes  of  various  denominations.  The  waste  con 
sequent  on  such  orders  is  enormous — and  the_ 
ability  required  to  conduct  these  enormous  es 
tablishments  successfully  is  expressed  by  the 
common  phrase  in  the  States,  "Brown  is  a  clev 
er  man,  but  he  can't  manage  an  hotel."  The 
tumult,  the  miscellaneous  nature  of  the  company 
—  my  friends  the  prize-fighters  are  already  in 
possession  of  the  doorway  —  the  heated,  muggy 
rooms,  not  to  speak  of  the  great  abominableness 
of  the  passages  and  halls,  despite  a  most  liberal 
provision  of  spittoons,  conduce  to  render  these 
institutions  by  no  means  agreeable  to  a  Euro 
pean.  Late  in  the  day  I  succeeded  in  obtaining 
a  sitting-room  with  a  small  bed-room  attached, 
which  made  me  somewhat  more  independent 
and  comfortable — but  you  must  pay  highly  for 
any  departure  from  the  routine  life  of  the  na 
tives.  Ladies  enjoy  a  handsome  drawing-room, 
with  piano,  sofas,  and  easy-chairs,  all  to  them 
selves. 

I  dined  at  Mr.  Sanford's,  where  I  was  intro 
duced  to  Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State ;  Mr. 
Truman  Smith,  an  ex-senator,  much  respected 
among  the  Republican  party;  Mr.  Antony,  a  sen 
ator  of  the  United  States,  a  journalist,  a  very  in 
telligent-looking  man,  with  an  Israelitish  cast  of 
face ;  Colonel  Foster  of  the  Illinois  railway,  of 
reputation  in  the  States  as  a  geologist ;  and"  one 
or  two  more  gentlemen.  Mr.  Seward  is  a  slight, 
middle-sized  man,  of  feeble  build,  with  the  stoop 
contracted  from  sedentary  habits  and  application 
to  the  desk,  and  has  a  peculiar  attitude  when 
seated,  which  immediately  attracts  attention.  A 
well-formed  and  large  head  is  placed  on  a  long, 
slender  neck,  and  projects  over  the  chest  in  an 
argumentative  kind  of  way,  as  if  the  keen  eyes 
were  seeking  for  an  Adversary ;  the  mouth  is  re 
markably  flexible,  large  but  well-formed,  the  nose 
prominent  and  aquiline,  the  eyes  secret,  but  pene 
trating,  and  lively  with  humour  of  some  kind 
twinkling  about  them  ;  the  brow  bold  and  broad, 
but  not  remarkably  elevated  ;  the  white  hair  sil 
very  and  fine — a  subtle,  quick  man,  rejoicing  in 
power,  given  to  perorate  and  to  oracular  utter 
ances,  fond  of  badinage,  bursting  with  the  im 
portance  of  state  mysteries,  and  with  the  dignity 
of  directing  the  foreign  policy  of  the  greatest 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


21 


country — as  all  Americans  think — in  the  world. 
After  dinner  he  told  some  stories  of  the  pressure 
on  the  President  for  place,  which  very  much 
amused  the  guests  who  knew  the  men,  and  talked 
freely  and  pleasantly  of  many  things — stating, 
however,  few  facts  positively.  In  reference  to  an 
assertion  in  a  New  York  paper,  that  orders  had 
been  given  to  evacuate  Sumter,  "That,  "he  said, 
"is  a  plain  lie — no  such  orders  have  been  given. 
We  will  give  up  nothing  we  have — abandon  noth 
ing  that  has  been  entrusted  to  us.  If  people 
would  only  read  these  statements  by  the  light  of 
the  President's  inaugural,  they  would  not  be  de 
ceived."  He  wanted  no  extra  session  of  Congress. 
"  History  tells  us  that  kings  who  call  extra  par 
liaments  lose  their  heads,"  and  he  informed  the 
company  he  had  impressed  the  President  with 
his  historical  parallels. 

All  through  this  conversation  his  tone  was  that 
of  a  man  very  sanguine,  and  with  a  supreme  con 
tempt  for  those  who  thought  there  was  anything 
serious  in  secession.  "Why," said  he,  "I  my 
self,  my  brothers,  and  sisters,  have  been  all  seces 
sionists — we  seceded  from  home  when  we  were 
young,  but  we  all  went  back  to  it  sooner  or  later. 
These  States  will  all  come  back  in  the  same  way." 
I  doubt  if  he  was  ever  in  the  South ;  but  he  af 
firmed  that  the  state  of  living  and  of  society  there 
was  something  like  that  in  the  State  of  New  York 
sixty  or  seventy  years  ago.  In  the  North  all  was 
life,  enterprise,  industry,  mechanical  skill.  In  the 
South  there  was  dependence  on  black  labour,  and 
an  idle  extravagance  which  was  mistaken  for  ele 
gant  luxury — tumble-down  old  hackney-coaches, 
such  as  had  not  been  seen  north  of  the  Potomac 
for  half  a  century,  harness  never  cleaned,  un- 
groomed  horses,  worked  at  the  mill  one  day  and 
sent  to  town  the  next,  badly  furnished  houses, 
bad  cookery,  imperfect  education.  No  parallel 
could  be  drawn  between  them  and  the  Northern 
States  at  all.  "  You  are  all  very  angry,"  he  said, 
"about  the  Morrill  tariff.  You  must,  however, 
let  us  bo  best  judges  of  our  own  affairs.  If  we 
judge  rightly,  you  have  no  right  to  complain  ;  if 
we  judge  wrongly,  we  shall  soon  be  taught  by  the 
results,  and  shall  correct  our  error.  It  is  evident 
that  if  the  Morrill  tariff  fulfils  expectations,  and 
raises  a  revenue,  British  manufacturers  suffer 
nothing,  and  we  suffer  nothing,  for  the  revenue 
is  raised  here,  and  trade  is  not  injured.  If  the 
tariff  fails  to  create  a  revenue,  we  shall  be  driven 
to  modify  or  repeal  it." 

The  company  addressed  him  as  "Governor," 
which  led  to  Mr.  Seward's  mentioning  that  when 
he  was  in  England  he  was  induced  to  put  his 
name  down  with  that  prefix  in  a  hotel  book,  and 
caused  a  discussion  among  the  waiters  as  to 
whether  he  was  the  "  Governor"  of  a  prison  or 
of  a  public  company.  I  hope  the  great  people  of 
England  treated  Mr.  Seward  with  the  attention 
due  to  his  position,  as  he  would  assuredly  feel  and 
resent  very  much  any  slight  on  the  part  of  those 
in  high  places.  From  what  he  said,  however,  I 
infer  that  he  was  satisfied  with  the  reception  he 
had  met  in  London.  Like  most  Americans  who 
can  afford  it,  he  has  been  up  the  Nile.  The  weird 
old  stream  has  great  fascinations  for  the  people 
of  the  Mississippi — as  far  at  least  as  the  first  cata 
ract. 

March  27th. — This  morning,  after  breakfast, 
Mr.  Sanford  called,  according  to  promise,  and 
took  me  to  the  State  department.  It  is  a  very 


humble  —  in  fact,  dingy  —  mansion,  two  stories 
high,  and  situated  at  the  erfd  of  the  magnified; t 
line  of  colonnade  in  white  marble,  called  the 
Treasury,  which  is  hereafter  to  do  duty  as  the 
head-quarters  of  nearly  all  the  public  depart 
ments.  People  familiar  with  Downing  Street, 
however,  cannot  object  to  the  dinginess  of  the 
bureaux  in  which  the  foreign  and  state  affairs  cf 
the  American  Republic  are  transacted.  A  flight 
of  steps  leads  to  the  hall-door,  on  which  an  an 
nouncement  in  writing  is  affixed,  to  indicate  the 
days  of  reception  for  the  various  classes  of  per 
sons  who  have  business  with  the  Secretary  of 
State ;  in  the  hall,  on  the  right  and  left,  are  small 
rooms,  with  the  names  of  the  different  officers  on 
the  doors — most  of  them  persons  of  importance  ; 
half-way  in  the  hall  a  flight  of  stairs  conducts  us 
to  a  similar  corridor,  rather  dark,  with  doors  on 
each  side  opening  into  the  bureaux  of  the  chief 
clerks.  All  the  appointments  were  very  quiet, 
and  one  would  see  much  more  bustle  in  the  pas 
sage  of  a  Poor  Law  Board  or  a  parish  vestry. 

In  a  moderately  sized,  but  very  comfortable, 
apartment,  surrounded  \vith  book-shelves,  and  or 
namented  with  a  few  engravings,  we  found  the 
Secretary  of  State  seated  at  his  table,  and  enjoy 
ing  a  cigar ;  he  received  me  with  great  courtesy 
and  kindness,  and  after  a  time  said  he  would 
take  occasion  to  present  me  to  the  President,  who 
was  to  give  audience  that  day  to  the  minister  of 
the  new  kingdom  of  Italy,  who  had  hitherto  only 
represented  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia. 

I  have  already  described  Mr.  Seward's  per 
sonal  appearance ;  his  son,  to  whom  he  intro 
duced  me,  is  the  Assistant-Secretary  of  State, 
and  is  editor  or  proprietor  of  a  journal  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  which  has  a  reputation  for 
ability  and  fairness.  Mr.  Frederick  Seward  is 
a  slight  delicate-looking  man,  with  a  high  fore 
head,  thoughtful  brow,  dark  eyes,  and  amiable 
expression  ;  his  manner  is  very  placid  and  mod 
est,  and,  if  not  reserved,  he  is  by  no  means  lo 
quacious.  As  we  were  speaking,  a  carriage 
drove  up  to  the  door,  and  Mr.  Seward  exclaim 
ed  to  his  father,  with  something  like  dismay  in 
his  voice,  "Here  comes  the  Chevalier  in  full 
uniform!" — and  in  a  few  seconds  in  effect  the 
Chevalier  Bertinatti  made  his  appearance,  in 
cocked  hat,  white  gloves,  diplomatic  suit  of  blue 
and  silver  lace,  sword,  sash,  and  riband  of  the 
cross  of  Savoy.  I  thought  there  was  a  quiet 
smile  on  Mr.  Seward's  face  as  he  saw  his  bril 
liant  companion,  who  contrasted  so  strongly 
with  the  more  than  republican  simplicity  of  his 
own  attire.  "Fred,  do  you  take  Mr.  Russell 
round  to  the  President's,  whilst  I  go  with  the 
Chevalier.  We  will  meet  at  the  White  House." 
We  accordingly  set  out  through  a  private  door 
leading  to  the  grounds,  and  within  a  few  sec 
onds  entered  the  hall  of  the  moderate  mansion, 
White  House,  which  has  very  much  the  air  of 
a  portion  of  a  bank  or  public  office,  being  pro 
vided  with  glass  doors  and  plain  heavy  chairs 
and  forms.  The  domestic  who  was  in  attend 
ance  was  dressed  like  any  ordinary  citizen,  and 
seemed  perfectly  indifferent  to  the  high  position 
of  the  gfeat  personage  with  whom  he  conversed, 
when  Mr.  Seward  asked  him,  "Where  is  the 
President  ?"  Passing  through  one  of  the  doors 
on  the  left,  we  entered  a  handsome  spacious 
room,  richly  and  rather  gorgeously  furnished, 
and  rejoicing  in  a  kind  of  "  demi-jour,"  which 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


gave  increased  effect  to  the  gilt  chairs  and  or 
molu  ornaments.  Mr.  Seward  and  the  Cheva 
lier  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  whils  his 
son  and  I  remained  a  little  on  one  side  :  "  For,'' 
said  Mr.  Seward,  "you  are  not  to  be  supposed 
to  be  here." 

/*  Soon  afterwards  there  entered,  with  a  sham- 
•/  bling,  loose,  irregular,  almost  unsteady  gait,  a 
tall,  lank,  lean  man,  considerably  over  six  feet 
in  height,  with  stooping  shoulders,  long  pendu 
lous  arms,  terminating  in  hands  of  extraordina 
ry  dimensions,  which,  however,  were  far  exceed 
ed  in  proportion  by  his  feet.  He  was  dressed 
in  an  ill-fitting,  wrinkled  suit  of  black,  which 
put  one  in  mind  of  an  undertaker's  uniform  at 
a  funeral ;  round  his  neck  a  rope  of  black  silk 
was  knotted  in  a  large  bulb,  with  flying  ends 
projecting  beyond  the  collar  of  his  coat;  his 
turned -down  shirt -collar  disclosed  a  sinewy 
muscular  yellow  neck,  and  above  that,  nestling 
in  a  great  black  mass  of  hair,  bristling  and  com 
pact  like  a  ruif  of  mourning  pins,  rose  the 
strange  quaint  face  and  head,  covered  with  its 
thatch  of  wild  republican  hair,  of  President  Lin 
coln.  The  impression  produced  by  the  size  of 
his  extremities,  and  by  his  flapping  and  wide 
projecting  ears,  may  be  removed  by  the  appear 
ance  of  kindliness,  sagacity,  and  the  awkward 
bonhommie  of  his  face  ;  the  mouth  is  absolutely 
prodigious  ;  the  lips,  straggling  and  extending 
almost  from  one  line  of  black  beard  to  the  other, 
are  only  kept  in  order  by  two  deep  furrows  from 
the  nostril  to  the  chin  ;  the  nose  itself — a  prom 
inent  organ — stands  out  from  the  face  with  an 
inquiring1,  anxious  air,  as  though  it  were  snif 
fing  for  some  good  thing  in  the  wind  ;  the  eyes 
dark,  full,  and  deeply  set,  are  penetrating,  but 
full  of  an  expression  which  almost  amounts  to 
tenderness ;  and  above  them  projects  the  shaggv 
brow,  running  into  the  small  hard  frontal  space, 
the  development  of  which  can  scarcely  be  esti 
mated  accurately,  owing  to  the  irregular  flocks 
of  thick  hair  carelessly  brushed  across  it.  One 
would  say  that,  although  the  mouth  was  made 
to  enjoy  a  joke,  it  could  also  utter  the  severest 
sentence  whicli  the  head  could  dictate,  but  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  would  be  ever  more  willing  to  tem 
per  justice  with  mercy,  and  to  enjoy  what  he 
considers  the  amenities  of  life,  than  to  take  a 
harsh  view  of  men's  nature  and  of  the  world, 
and  to  estimate  things  in  an  ascetic  or  puritan 
spirit.  A  person  who  met  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the 
street  would  not  take  him  to  be  what — accord 
ing  to  the  usages  of  European  society — is  called 
a  "gentleman;"  and,  indeed,  since  I  came  to 
the  United  States,  I  have  heard  more  dispara 
ging  allusions  made  by  Americans  to  him  on 
that  account  than  I  could  have  expected  among 
simple  republicans,  where  all  should  be  equals ; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  it  would  not  be  possible 
for  the  most  indifferent  observer  to  pass  him  in 
the  street  without  notice. 

As  he  advanced  through  the  room,  he  evi 
dently  controlled  a  desire  to  shake  hands  all 
round  with  everybody,  and  smiled  good-humour- 
cdly  till  he  was  suddenly  brought  up  by  the 
staid  deportment  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  by  the 
profound  diplomatic  bows  of  the  Chevalier  Ber- 
tinatti.  Then,  indeed,  he  suddenly  jerked  him 
self  back,  and  stood  in  front  of  the  two  minis 
ters,  with  his  body  slightly  drooped  forward, 
and  his  hands  behind  his  back,  his  knees  touch- 


ing,  and  his  feet  apart.  Mr.  Seward  formally 
presented  the  minister,  whereupon  the  President 
made  a  prodigiously  violent  demonstration  of  his 
body  in  a  bow  which  had  almost  the  effect  of  a 
smack  in  its  rapidity  and  abruptness,  and,  recov 
ering  himself,  proceeded  to  give  his  utmost  at 
tention,  whilst  the  Chevalier,  with  another  bow, 
read  from  a  paper  a  long  address  in  presenting 
the  royal  letter  accrediting  him  as  "minister 
resident;"  and  when  he  said  that  "the  king 
desired  to  give,  under  your  enlightened  admin 
istration,  all  possible  strength  and  extent  to 
those  sentiments  of  frank  sympathy  which  do 
not  cease  to  be  exhibited  every  moment  between 
the  two  peoples,  and  whose  origin  dates  back  as 
far  as  the  exertions  which  have  presided  over 
their  common  destiny  as  self-governing  and  free 
nations,"  the  President  gave  another  bow  still 
more  violent,  as  much  as  to  accept  the  allusion. 

The  minister  forthwith  handed  his  letter  to 
the  President,  who  gave  it  into  the  custody  of 
Mr.  Seward,  and  then,  dipping  his  hand  into  his 
coat-pocket,  Mr.  Lincoln  drew  out  a  sheet  of 
paper,  from  which  he  read  his  reply,  the  most 
remarkable  part  of  which  was  his  doctrine  "that 
the  United  States  were  bound  by  duty  not  to 
interfere  with  the  differences  of  foreign  govern 
ments  and  countries."  After  some  words  of 
compliment,  the  President  shook  hands  with 
the  minister,  who  soon  afterwards  retired.  Mr. 
Seward  then  took  me  by  the  hand  and  said — 
"  Mr.  President,  allow  me  to  present  to  you  Mr. 
Russell,  of  the  London  'Times.'"  On  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  put  out  his  hand  in  a  very  friendly 
manner,  and  said,'  "Mr.  Russell,  I  am  very 
glad  to  make  your  acquaintance,  and  to  sec  you 
in  this  country.  The  London  'Times'  is  one 
of  the  greatest  powers  in  the  world, — in  fact,  I 
don't  know  anything  which  has  much  more  pow 
er, — except  perhaps  the  Mississippi.  I  am  glad 
to  know  you  as  its  minister."  Conversation  en 
sued  for  some  minutes,  which  the  President  en 
livened  by  two  or  three  peculiar  little  sallies, 
and  I  left  agreeably  impressed  with  his  shrewd 
ness,  humour,  and  natural  sagacity. 

In  the  evening  I  dined  with  Mr.  Seward,  in 
company  with  his  son,  Mr.  Seward,  junior,  Mr. 
Sanford,  and  a  quaint,  natural  specimen  of  an 
American  rustic  lawyer,  who  was  going  to  Brus 
sels  as  Secretary  of  Legation.  His  chief,  Mr. 
Sanford,  did  not  appear  altogether  happy  when 
introduced  to  his  secretary,  for  he  found  that  he 
had  a  very  limited,  know  ledge  (if  any)  of  French, 
and  of  other  things  which  it  is  generally  consid 
ered  desirable  that  secretaries  should  know. 

Very  naturally,  conversation  turned  on  poli 
tics.  Although  no  man  can  foresee  the  nature 
of  the  crisis  whicli  is  coming,  nor  the  mode  in 
which  it  is  to  be  encountered,  me  faith  of  men 
like  Mr.  Sanford  and  Mr.  Seward  in  the  ulti 
mate  success  of  their  principles,  and  in  the  in- 
tegrity  of  the  Republic,  is  very  remarkable ;  and 
the  boldness  of  their  language  in  reference  to 
foreign  powers  almost  amounts  to  arrogance  and 
menace,  if  not  to  temerity.  Mr.  Seward  assert- 
ed  that  the  Ministers  of  England  or  of  France 
had  no  right  to  make  any  allusion  to  the  civil 
war  which  appeared  imminent ;  and  that  the 
Southern  Commissioners  who  had  been  sent 
abroad  could  not  be  received  by  the  Government 
of  any  foreign  power,  officially  or  otherwise,  even 
to  Imnd  in  a  document  or  to  make  a  represcnta- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


23 


tion,  without  incurring  the  risk  of  breaking  off 
relations  with  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  As  regards  the  great  object  of  public 
curiosity,  the  relief  of  Fort  Sumter,  Mr.  Seward 
maintains  a  profound  silence,  beyond  the  mere 
declaration,  made  with  a  pleasant  twinkle  of  the 
eye,  that  "the  whole  policy  of  the  Government, 
on  that  and  other  questions,  is  put  forth  in  the 
President's  inaugural,  from  which  there  will  be 
no  deviation."  Turning  to  the  inaugural  mes 
sage,  however,  there  is  no  such  very  certain  indi 
cation,  as  Mr.  Seward  pretends  to  discover,  of 
the  course  to  be  pursued  by  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the 
cabinet.  To  an  outside  observer,  like  myself,  it 
seems  as  if  they  were  waiting  for  events  to  de 
velop  themselves,  and  rested  their  policy  rather 
upon  acts  that  had  occurred,  than  upon  any  def 
inite  principle  designed  to  control  or  direct  the 
future. 

I  should  here  add  that  Mr.  Seward  spoke  in 
high  terms  of  the  ability,  dexterity,  and  personal 
qualities  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  and  declared  his 
belief  that  but  for  him  the  Secession  movement 
never  could  have  succeeded  as  far  as  it  has  gone, 
and  would,  in  all  probability,  indeed,  have  never 
taken  place  at  all.  After  dinner  cigars  were  in 
troduced,  and  a  quiet  little  rubber  of  whist  fol 
lowed.  The  Secretary  is  given  to  expatiate  at 
large,  and  told  us  many  anecdotes  of  foreign 
travel ; — if  I  am  not  doing  him  injustice,  I  would 
say  further,  that  he  remembers  his  visit  to  Eng 
land,  artd  the  attention  he  received  there,  with 
peculiar  satisfaction.  He  cannot  be  found  fault 
with  because  he  has  formed  a  most  exalted  no 
tion  of  the  superior  intelligence,  virtue,  happi 
ness,  and  prosperity  of  his  own  people.  He  said 
that  it  would  not  be  proper  for  him  to  hold  any 
communication  with  the  Southern  Commission 
ers  then  in  Washington ;  which  rather  surprised 
me,  after  what  I  had  heard  from  their  friend, 
Mr.  Banks.  On  returning  to  my  hotel,  I  found 
a  card  from  the  President,  inviting  me  to  dinner 
the  following  day. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A  state  dinner  at  the  White  House— Mrs.  Lincoln— The 
Cabinet  Ministers — A  newspaper  correspondent — Good 
Friday  at  Washington. 

March  28th. — I  was  honoured  to-day  by  visits 
from  a  great  number  of  Members  of  Congress, 
journalists,  and  others.  Judging  from  the  ex 
pressions  of  most  of  the  Washington  people,  they 
would  gladly  see  a  Southern  Cabinet  installed 
in  their  city.  The  cold  shoulder  is  given  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  all  kinds  of  stories  and  jokes  are 
circulated  at  his  expense.  People  take  partic 
ular  pleasure  in  telling  how  he  came  towards 
the  seat  of  his  Government  disguised  in  a  Scotch 
cap  and  cloak,  whatever  that  may  mean. 

In  the  evening  I  repaired  to  the  White  House. 
The  servant  who  took  my  hat  and  coat  was  par 
ticularly  inquisitive  as  to  my  name  and  condi 
tion  in  life ;  and  when  he  heard  I  was  not  a 
minister,  he  seemed  inclined  to  question  my 
right  to  be  there  at  all:  "for,"  said  he,  "there 
are  none  but  members ,pf  the  cabinet,  and  their 
wives  and  daughters,  dining  here  to-day."  Even 
tually  he  relaxed — instructed  me  how  to  place 
my  hat  so^that  it  would  be  exposed  to  no  indig 
nity,  and  informed  me  that  I  was  about  to  par 
ticipate  in  a  prandial  enjoyment  of  no  ordinary 


character.  There  was  no  parade  or  display,  no 
announcement — no  gilded  staircase,  with  its  liv 
eried  heralds,  transmitting  and  translating  one's 
name  from  landing  to  landing.  From  the  un 
pretending  ante-chamber,  a  walk  across  the  lofty 
hall  led  us  to  the  reception-room,  which  was  the 
same  as  that  in  which  the  President  held  his  in 
terview  yesterday. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  was  already  seated  to  receive  her 
guests.  She  is  of  the  middle  age  and  height,  of 
a  plumpness  degenerating  to  the  embonpoint  nat 
ural  to  her  years  ;  her  features  are  plain,  her 
nose  and  mouth  of  an  ordinary  type,  and  her 
manners  and  appearance  homely,  stiffened,  how 
ever,  by  the  consciousness  that  her  position  re 
quires  her  to  be  something  more  than  plain  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  the  wife  of  the  Illinois  lawyer  ;  she  is 
profuse  in  the  introduction  of  the  word  "  sir"  in 
every  sentence,  which  is  now  almost  an  Ameri 
canism  confined  to  certain  classes,  although  it 
was  once  as  common  in  England.  Her  dress  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  describe,  though  it  was  very 
gorgeous  and  highly  coloured.  She  handled  a 
fan  with  much  energy,  displaying  a  round,  well- 
proportioned  arm,  and  was  adorned  with  some 
simple  jewellery.  Mrs.  Lincoln  struck  me  as  be 
ing  desirous  of  making  herself  agreeable  ;  and  I 
own  I  was  agreeably  disappointed,  as  the  Seces 
sionist  ladies  at  Washington  had  been  amusing 
themselves  by  anecdotes  which  could  scarcely 
have  been  founded  on  fact. 

Several  of  the  Ministers  had  already  arrived ; 
by-and-by  all  had  come,  and  the  party  only  wait 
ed  for  General  Scott,  who  seemed  to  be  the  rep 
resentative  man  in  Washington  of  the  monarch 
ical  idea,  and  to  absorb  some  of  the  feeling  which 
is  lavished  on  the  pictures  and  memory,  if  not  on 
the  monument,  of  Washington.  Whilst  we  were 
waiting,  Mr,  Seward  took  me  round,  and  intro 
duced  me  to  the  Ministers,  and  to  their  wives 
and  daughters,  among  the  latter,  Miss  Chase, 
who  is  very  attractive,  agreeable,  and  sprightly. 
Her  father,  the  Finance  Minister,  struck  me  as 
one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  distinguished  per 
sons  in  the  whole  assemblage  ;  tall,  of  a  good 
presence,  with  a  well -formed  head,  fine  forehead, 
and  a  face  indicating  energy  and  power.  There 
is  a  peculiar  droop  and  motion  of  the  lid  of  one 
eye,  which  seems  to  have  suffered  from  some  in 
jury,  that  detracts  from  the  agreeable  effect  of 
his  face  ;  but,  on  the  whole,  he  is  one  who  would 
not  pass  quite  unnoticed  in  a  European  crowd 
of  the  same  description. 

In  the  whole  assemblage  there  was  not  a  scrap 
of  lace  or  a  piece  of  ribbon,  except  the  gorgeous 
epaulettes  of  an  old  naval  officer  who  had  served 
against  us  in  the  last  war,  and  who  represented 
some  branch  of  the  naval  department.  Nor 
were  the  Ministers  by  any  means  remarkable  for 
their  personal  appearance. 

Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary  for  War,  a  slight 
man,  above  the  middle  height,  with  grey  hair, 
deep-set  keen  grey  eyes,  and  a  thin  mouth,  gave 
me  the  idea  of  a  person  of  ability  and  adroitness. 
His  colleague,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  a  small 
man,  with  ^  great  long  grey  beard  and  specta 
cles,  did  not  look  like  one  of  much  originality  or 
ability ;  but  people  who  know  Mr.  Welles  de 
clare  that  he  is  possessed  of  administrative  pow 
er,  although  they  admit  that  he  does  not  know 
the  stem  from  the  stern  of  a  ship,  and  are  in 
doubt  whether  he  ever  saw  the  sea  in  his  life. 


MY  DIAEY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Mr.  Smith,  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  is  a 
bright-eyed,  smart  (I  use  the  word  in  the  Eng 
lish  sense)  gentleman,  with  the  reputation  of  be 
ing  one  of  the  most  conservative  members  of  the 
cabinet.  Mr.  Blair,  the  Postmaster-General,  is 
a  person  of  much  greater  influence  than  his  po 
sition  would  indicate.  He  has  the  reputation  of 
being  one  of  the  most  determined  republicans  in 
the  Ministry ;  but  he  held  peculiar  notions  with 
reference  to  the  black  and  the  white  races, 
which,  if  carried  out,  would  not  by  any  means 
conduce  to  the  comfort  or  happiness  of  free  ne 
groes  in  the  United  States.  He  is  a  tall,  lean 
man,  with  a  hard,  Scotch,  practical-looking  head 
— an  anvil  for  ideas  to  be  hammered  on.  His 
eyes  are  small  and  deeply  set,  and  have  a  rat- 
like  expression  ;  and  he  speaks  with  caution,  as 
though  he  weighed  every  word  before  he  uttered 
it.  The  last  of  the  Ministers  is  Mr  Bates,  a 
stout,  thick-set,  common-looking  man,  with  a 
large  beard,  who  fills  the  office  of  Attorney-Gen- 
'  eral.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  were  in  evening 
dress ;  others  wore  black  frock  coats,  which  it 
seems,  as  in  Turkey,  are  considered  to  be  en  re 
gie  at  a  Republican  Ministerial  dinner. 

In  the  conversation  which  occurred  before  din 
ner,  I  was  amused  to  observe  the  manner  in 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  used  the  anecdotes  for  which 
he  is  famous.  Where  men  bred  in  courts,  ac 
customed  to  the  world,  or  versed  in  diplomacy, 
would  use  some  subterfuge,  or  would  make  a  po 
lite  speech,  or  give  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders  as 
the  means  of  getting  out  of  an  embarrassing  po 
sition,  Mr.  Lincoln  raises  a  laugh  by  some  bold 
west-country  anecdote,  and  moves  off  in  the 
cloud  of  merriment  produced  by  his  joke.  Thus, 
when  Mr.  Bates  was  remonstrating  apparently 
against  the  appointment  of  some  indifferent  law 
yer  to  a  place  of  judicial  importance,  the  Presi 
dent  interposed  with,  "  Come  now,  Bates,  he's 
not  half  as  bad  as  you  think.  Besides  that,  I 
must  tell  you,  he  did  me  a  good  turn  long  ago. 
When  I  took  to  the  law,  I  was  going  to  court 
one  morning,  with  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  of 
bad  road  before  me,  and  I  had  no  horse.  The 
judge  overtook  me  in  his  wagon.  'Hollo,  Lin 
coln  !  Are  you  not  going  to  the  court-house  ? 
Come  in  and  I'll  give  you  a  seat.'  Well,  I  got 
in,  and  the  judge  went  on  reading  his  papers. 
Presently  the  waggon  struck  a  stump  on  one 
side  of  the  road  ;  then  it  hopped  off  to  the  oth 
er.  I  looked  out,  and  I  saw  the  driver  was  jerk 
ing  from  side  to  side  in  his  seat ;  so  says  I, 
'Judge,  I  think  your  coachman  has  been  taking 
a  little  drop  too  much  this  morning.'  '  Well  I 
declare,  Lincoln,'  said  he,  'I  should  not  much 
wonder  if  you  are  right,  for  he  has  nearly  upset 
me  half-a-dozen  of  times  since  starting.'  So, 
putting  his  head  out  of  the  window,  he  shouted, 
'Why,  you  infernal  scoundrel,  you  are  drunk  !' 
Upon  which,  pulling  up  his  horses,  and  turning 
round  with  great  gravity,  the  coachman  said, 
'  By  gorra  !  that's  the  first  rightful  decision  you 
have  given  for  the  last  twelvemonth.' "  Whilst 
the  company  were  laughing,  the  President  beat 
a  quiet  retreat  from  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Attorney-General. 

It  was  at  last  announced  that  General  Scott 
was  unable  to  be  present,  and  that,  although 
actually  in  the  house,  he  had  been  compelled  to 
retire  from  indisposition,  and  we  moved  in  to  the 
banquetting-hall.  The  first  "state  dinner,"  as 


it  is  called,  of  the  President  was  not  remarkable 
for  ostentation.     No  liveried  servants,  no  Persic 
j  splendour  of  ancient  plate,  or  chefs  d1  ceuvre  of 
j  art  glittered  round  the  board.     Vases  of  flowers 
i  decorated   the   table,   combined   with  dishes  in 
what  may  be  called  the  "  Gallo- American"  style, 
•  with  wines  which  owed  their  parentage  to  France, 
!  and  their  rearing  and  education  to  the  United 
i  States,  which  abound  in  cunning  nurses  for  such 
!  productions.      The   conversation  was   suited  to 
the  state  dinner  of  a  cabinet  at  which  women 
and  strangers  were  present.     I  was  seated  next 
Mr.  Bates  and  the  very  agreeable  and  lively  Sec 
retary  of  the  President,  Mr.  Hay,  and   except 
when  there  was  an  attentive  silence  caused  by 
one  of  the  President's  stories,  there  was  a  Babel 
of  small  talk  round  the  table,  in  which  I  was 
surprised  to  find  a  diversity  of  accent  almost  as 
!  great  as  if  a   number  of  foreigners  had  been 
i  speaking  English.     I  omitted  the  name  of  Mr. 
j  Hamlin,  the  Vice-President,  as  well  as  those  of 
j  less  remarkable  people  who  were  present ;  but  it 
]  would  not  be  becoming  to  pass  over  a  man  dis- 
|  tinguished  for  nothing  so  much  as  his  persistent 
j  and  unvarying  adhesion  to  one  political  doctrine^ 
j  which  has  made  him,  in  combination  with  the 
j  belief  in  his  honesty,  the   occupant  of  a  post 
I  which  leads  to  the  Presidency,  in  event  of  any 
!  occurrence  which  may  remove  Mr.  Lincoln. 

After  dinner  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  retired 
|  to  the  drawing-room,  and  the  circle  was  increased 
by  the  addition  of  several  politicians.  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  conversing  with  some  of  the  Min 
isters,  if  not  with  all,  from  time  to  time,  and  I 
was  struck  by  the-  uniform  tendency  of  their  re 
marks  in  reference  to  the  policy  of  Great  Britain. 
They  seemed  to  think  that  England  was  bound 
by  her  anti-slavery  antecedents  to  discourage  to 
the  utmost  any  attempts  of  the  South  to  estab 
lish  its  independence  on  a  basis  of  slavery,  and 
to  assume  that  they  were  the  representatives  of 
an  active  war  of  emancipation.  As  the  veteran 
Commodore  Stewart  passed  the  chair  of  the  young 
lady  to  whom  I  was  speaking,  she  said,  "I  sup 
pose,  Mr.  Russell,  you  do  not  admire  that  offi 
cer?"  "On  the  contrary,"  I  said,  "I  think  he 
is  a  very  fine-looking  old  man."  "  I  don't  mean 
that,"  she  replied;  "but  you  know  he  can't  be 
very  much  liked  by  you,  because  he  fought  so 
gallantly  against  you  in  the  last  war,  as  you  must 
know."  I  had  not  the  courage  to  confess  igno 
rance  of  the  Captain's  antecedents.  There  is  a 
delusion  among  more  than  the  fair  American 
who  spoke  to  me,  that  we  entertain  in  England 
the  sort  of  feeling,  morbid  or  wholesome  as  it 
may  be,  in  reference  to  our  reverses  at  New  Or 
leans  and  elsewhere,  that  is  attributed  to  French 
men  respecting  Waterloo. 

On  returning  to  Willard's  Hotel,  I  was  accost 
ed  by  a  gentleman  who  came  out  from  the  crowd 
in  front  of  the  office.  "  Sir,"  he  said,  (i  you  have 
been  dining  with  our  President  to-night."  I 
bowed.  "Was  it  an  agreeable  party?"  said  he. 
"  What  do  you  think  of  Mr.  Lincoln  ?"  "May 
I  ask  to  whom  I  have  the  pleasure  of  speaking?" 
"  My  name  is  Mr. ,  and  I  am  the  corre 
spondent  of  the  New  York ."  "Then,  sir," 

I  replied,  "k  gives  me  satisfaction  to  tell  you 
that  I  think  a  great  deal  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and 
that  I  am  equally  pleased  with  my  dinner.  I 
have  the  honour  to  bid  you  good  evening."  The 
same  gentleman  informed  me  afterwards  that  he 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


had  created  the  office  of  "Washington  Correspond 
ent  to  the  New  York  papers.  "At  first,"  said 
he,  "I  merely  wrote  news,  and  no  one  cared 
much  ;  then  I  spiced  it  up,  squibbed  a  little,  and 
let  off  stories  of  my  own.  Congress  men  contra 
dicted  me  —  issued  cards  —  said  they  were  not 
facts.  The  public  attention  was  attracted,  and 
I  was  told  to  go  on ;  and  so  the  Washington  cor 
respondence  became  a  feature  in  all  the  New 
York  papers  by  degrees."  The  hum  and  bustle 
in  the  hotel  to-night  were  wonderful.  All  the 
office  seekers  were  in  the  passages,  hungering 
after  senators  and  representatives,  and  the  ladies 
in  any  way  related  to  influential  people,  had  an 
entourage  of  courtiers  sedulously  paying  their  ^e- 
spects.  Miss  Chase,  indeed,  laughingly  told  me 
that  she  was  pestered  by  applicants  for  her  fa 
ther's  good  offices,  and  by  persons  seeking  intro 
duction  to  her  as  a  means  of  making  demands 
on  "  Uncle  Sam." 

As  I  was  visiting  a  book-shop  to-day,  a  pert 
smiling  young  fellow,  of  slight 'figure  and  boyish 
appearance,  came  up  and  introduced  himself  to 
me  as  an  artist  who  had  contributed  to  an  illus 
trated  London  paper  during  the  Prince  of  Wales's 
tour,  and  who  had  become  acquainted  with  some 
of  my  friends;  and  he  requested  permission  to 
call  on  me,  which  I  gave  without  difficulty  or 
hesitation.  He  visited  me  this  evening,  poor 
lad  !  and  told  me  a  sad  story  of  his  struggles, 
and  of  the  dependence  of  his  family  on  his  efforts, 
as  a  prelude  to  a  request  that  I  would  allow  him 
to  go  South  when  I  was  making  the  tour  there, 
of  which  he  had  heard.  He  was  under  an  en 
gagement  with  the  London  paper,  and  had  no 
doubt  that  if  he  was  with  me  his  sketches  would 
all  be  received  as  illustrations  of  the  places  to 
which  my  letters  were  attracting  public  interest 
in  England  at  the  time.  There  was  no  reason 
why  I  should  be  averse  to  his  travelling  with  me 
in  the  same  train.  He  could  certainly  go  if  he 
pleased.  At  the  same  time  I  intimated  that  I 
was  in  no  way  to  be  connected  with  or  responsi 
ble  for  him. 

March  23th,  Good  Friday. — The  religious  ob 
servance  of  the  day  was  not  quite  as  strict  as  it 
would  be  in  England.  The  Puritan  aversion  to 
ceremonials  and  formulary  observances  has  ap 
parently  affected  the  American  world,  even  as  far 
south  as  this.  The  people  of  colour  were  in  the 
streets  dressed  in  their  best.  The  first  impres 
sion  produced  by  fine  bonnets,  gay  shawls,  bright 
ly-coloured  dresses,  and  silk  brodequins,  on  black 
faces,  flat  figures,  and  feet  to  match,  is  singular; 
but,  in  justice  to  the  backs  of  many  of  the  gaudi 
ly-dressed  women,  who,  in  little  groups,  were  go 
ing  to  church  or  chapel,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
this  surprise  only  came  upon  one  when  he  got  a 
front  view.  The  men  generally  affected  black 
coats,  silk  or  satin  waistcoats,  and  parti-coloured 
pantaloons.  They  carried  Missal  or  Prayer- 
book,  pocket-handkerchief,  cane  or  parasol,  with 
infinite  affectation  of  correctness. 

As  I  was  looking  out  of  the  window,  a  very 
fine,  tall  young  negro,  dressed  irreproachably, 
save  as  to  hat  and  boots,  passed  by.'  "I  won 
der  what  he  is?"  I  exclaimed  inquiringly  to  a 
gentleman  who  stood  beside  me.  "Well,"  he 
said,  "that  fellow  is  not  a  free  nigger;  he  looks 
too  respectable.  I  daresay  you  could  get  him  for 
1500  dollars,  without  his  clothes.  You  know," 
continued  he,  "what  our  Minister  said  when 


he  saw  a  nigger  at  some  Court  in  Europe,  and 
was  asked  what  he  thought  of  him :  '  Well,  I 
guess,'  said  he,  'if  you  take  off  his  fixings,  he 
may  be  worth  1000  dollars  down.'  In  the  course 
of  the  day,  Mr.  Banks,  a  'corpulent,  energetic 
young  Virginian,  of  strong  Southern  views,  again 
called  on  me.  As  the  friend  of  the  Southern 
Commissioners,  he  complained  vehemently  of  the 
refusal  of  Mr.  Seward  to  hold  intercourse  with 
him.  "These  fellows  mean  treachery,  but  we 
will  baulk  them."  In  answer  to  a  remark  of 
mine,  that  the  English  Minister  would  certainly 
refuse  to  receive  Commissioners  from  any  part 
of  the  Queen's  dominions  which  had  seized  upon 
the  forts  and  arsenals  of  the  empire  and  menaced 
war,  he  replied:  "The  case  is  quite  different. 
The  Crown  claims  a  right  to  govern  the  whole 
of  your  empire ;  but  the  Austrian  Government 
could  not  refuse  to  receive  a  deputation  from 
Hungary  for  an  adjustment  of  grievances ;  nor 
could  any  State  belonging  to  the  German  Diet 
attempt  to  claim  sovereignty  over  another,  be 
cause  they  were  members  of  the  same  Confeder 
ation."  I  remarked  "that  his  views  of  the  ob 
ligations  of  each  State  of  the  Union  were  per 
fectly  new  to  me,  as  a  stranger  ignorant  of  the 
controversies  which  distracted  tbem.  An  En 
glishman  had  nothing  to  do  with  a  Virginian 
and  New  Yorkist,  or  a  South  Carolinian  —  he 
scarcely  knew  anything  of  a  Texan,  or  of  an  Ar- 
kansasian ;  we  only  were  conversant  with  the 
United  States  as  an  entity  ;  and  all  our  dealings 
were  with  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America."  This,  however,  only  provoked  logic 
ally  diffuse  dissertations  on  the  Articles  of  the 
Constitution,  and  on  the  spirit  of  the  Federal 
Compact. 

Later  in  the  day,  I  had  the  advantage  of  a  con 
versation  with  Mr.  Truman  Smith,  an  old  and 
respected  representative  in  former  days,  who  gave 
me  a  very  different  account  of  the  matter;  and 
who  maintained  that  by  the  Federal  Compact 
each  State  had  delegated  irrevocably  the  essence 
of  its  sovereignty  to  a  Government  to  be  estab 
lished  in  perpetuity  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole 
body.  The  Slave  States,  seeing  that  the  prog 
ress  of  free  ideas,  and  the  material  power  of  the 
North,  were  obtaining  an  influence  which  must 
be  subversive  of  the  supremacy  they  had  so  long 
exercised  in  the  Federal  Government  for  theii 
own  advantage,  had  developed  this  doctrine  of 
States'  Rights  as  a  cloak  to  treason,  preferring 
the  material  advantages  to  be  gained  bv  the  ex 
tension  of  their  system  to  the  grand  moral  posi 
tion  which  they  would  occupy  as  a  portion  of  the 
United  States  in  the  face  of  all  the  world. 

It  is  on  such  radical  differences  of  ideas  as 
these,  that  the  whole  of  the  quarrel,  which  is 
widening  every  dav,  is  founded.  The  Federal 
Compact,  at  the  very  outset,  was  written  on  a 
;orn  sheet  of  paper,  and  time  has  worn  away  the 
artificial  cement  by  which  it  was  kept  together. 
The  corner  stone  of  the  Constitution  had  a  crack 
n  it,  which  the  heat  and  fury  of  faction  have 
widened  into  a  fissure  from  top  to  bottom,  never 
to  be  closed  again. 

In  the  evening  I  had  the  pleasure  of  dining 
with  an  American'gentleman  who  has  seen  much 
f  the  world,  travelled  far  and  wide,  who  has 
•ead  much  and  beheld  more,  a  scholar,  a  politi 
cian,  after  his  way,  a  poet,  and  an  ologist — one 
f  those  modern  Grceculi,  who  is  unlike  his  pro- 


26 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


totype  in  Juvenal  only  in  this,  that  he  is  not 
hungry,  and  that  he  will  not  go  to  heaven  if  you 
order  him. 

Such  men  never  do  or  can  succeed  in  the 
United  States ;  they  are  far  too  refined,  philo 
sophical,  and  cosmopolitan.  From  what  I  see, 
success  here  may  be  obtained  by  refined  men,  if 
they  are  dishonest,  never  by  philosophical  men, 
unless  they  be  corrupt — not  by  cosmopolitan  men 
under  any  circumstances  whatever ;  for  to  have 
sympathies  with  any  people,  or  with  any  nation 
in  the  world,  except  his  own,  is  to  doom  a  states 
man  with  the  American  public,  unless  it  be  in 
the  form  of  an  affectation  of  pity  or  good  will, 
intended  really  as  an  offence  to  some  allied  peo 
ple.  At  dinner  there  was  the  very  largest  naval 
officer  I  have  seen  in  company,  although  I  must 
own  that  our  own  service  is  not  destitute  of 
some  good  specimens,  and  I  have  seen  an  Aus 
trian  admiral  at  Pola,  and  the  superintendent  of 
the  Arsenal  at  Tophaneh,  who  were  not  unfit  to 
be  marshals  of  France.  This  Lieutenant,  named 
Nelson,  was  certainly  greater  in  one  sense  than 
his  British  namesake,  for  he  weighed  260  pounds. 

It  may  be  here  remarked,  passim  and  obiter, 
that  the  Americans  are  much  more  precise  than 
ourselves  in  the  enumeration  of  weights  and 
matters  of  this  kind.  They  speak  of  pieces  of 
artillery,  for  example,  as  being  of  so  many  pounds 
weight,  and  of  so  many  inches  long,  where  we 
would  use  cwts.  and  feet.  With  a  people  ad 
dicted  to  vertical  rather  than  lateral  extension  in 
every  thing  but  politics  and  morals,  precision  is 
a  matter  of  importance.  I  was  amused  by  a  de 
scription  of  some  popular  personage  I  saw  in  one 
of  the  papers  the  other  day,  which  after  an  enu 
meration  of  many  high  mental  and  physical  at 
tributes,  ended  thus:  "In  fact,  he  is  a  remark 
ably  fine,  high-toned  gentleman,  and  weighs  210* 
pounds." 

The  Lieutenant  was  a  strong  Union  man,  and 
he  inveighed  fiercely,  and  even  coarsely,  against 
the  members  of  his  profession  who  had  thrown 
up  their  commissions.  The  superintendent  of 
the  Washington  Navy  Yard  is  supposed  to  be 
very  little  disposed  in  favour  of  this  present  Gov 
ernment  ;  in  fact,  Capt.  Buchanan  may  be  called 
a  Secessionist,  nevertheless,  I  am  invited  to  the 
\vedding  of  his  daughter,  in  order  to  see  the 
President  give  away  the  bride.  Mr.  Nelson 
says,  Sumter  and  Pickens  are  to  be  reinforced. 
Charleston  is  to  be  reduced  to  order,  and  all 
traitors  hanged,  or  he  will  know  the  reason  why ; 
and,  says  he,  "I  have  some  weight  in  the  coun 
try."  In  the  evening,  as  we  were  going  home, 
notwithstanding  the  cold,  we  saw  a  number  of 
ladies  sitting  out  on  the  door -steps,  in  white 
dresses.  The  streets  were  remarkably  quiet  and 
deserted  ;  all  the  coloured  population  had  been 
sent  to  bed  long  ago.  Th9  fire-bell,  as  usual, 
made  an  alarm  or  two  about  midnight. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Barbers'  shops — Place-hunting — The  Navy  Yard — Dinner 
at  Lord  Lyons'— Estimate  of  Washington  among  his 
countrymen  —  Washington's  house  and  tomb  —  The 
Southern  Commissioners— Dinner  with  the  Southern 
Commissioners  —  Feeling  towards  England  among  the 
Southerners— Animosity  between  North  and  South. 

March  oQth. — Descended  into  the  barber's  shop 
off  the  hall  of  the  hotel ;   all  the  operators,  men 


of  colour,  mostly  mulattoes,  or  yellow  lads,  good- 
looking,  dressed  in  clean  white  jackets  and 
aprons,  were  smart,  quick,  and  attentive.  Some 
seven  or  eight  shaving  chairs  were  occupied  by 
gentlemen  intent  on  early  morning  calls.  Shav 
ing  is  carried  in  all  its  accessories  to  a  high  de 
gree  of  publicity,  if  not  of  perfection,  in  America ; 
and  as  the  poorest,  or  as  I  may  call  them  with 
out  offence,  the  lowest  orders  in  England  have 
their  easy  shaving  for  a  penny,  so  the  highest, 
if  there  be  any  in  America,  submit  themselves  in 
public  to  the  inexpensive  operations  of  the  negro 
barber.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  chairs  are 
easy  and  well-arranged,  the  fingers  nimble,  sure, 
ami  light;  but  the  affectation  of  French  names, 
and  the  corruption  of  foreign  languages,  in  which 
the  hairdressers  and  barbers  delight,  are  exceed 
ingly  amusing.  On  my  way  down  a  small  street 
near  the  Capitol,  I  observed  in  a  shop  window, 
"Rowland's  make  easier  paste," which  I  attrib 
ute  to  an  imperfect  view  of  the  etymology  of  the 
great  "Macassar;"  on  another  occasion,  I  was 
asked  to  try  Somebody's ' '  Curious  Elison,"  which 
I  am  afraid  was  an  attempt  to  adapt  to  a  shav 
ing  paste,  an  address  not  at  all  suited  to  profane 
uses.  It  appears  that  the  trade  of  barber  is  al 
most  the  birthright  of  the  free  negro  or  coloured 
man  in  the  United  States.  There  is  a  striking 
exemplification  of  natural  equality  in  the  use  of 
brushes,  and  the  senator  flops  do*wn  in  the  seat, 
and  has  his  noble  nose  seized  by  the  same  fingers 
which  the  moment  before  were  occupied  by  the 
person  and  chin  of  an  unmistakeable  rowdy. 

In  the  midst  of  the  divine  calm  produced  by 
hard  hand  rubbing  of  my  head,  I  was  aroused  by 
a  stout  gentleman  who  sat  in  a  chair  directly  op 
posite.  Through  the  door  which  opened  into 
the  hall  of  the  hotel,  one  could  see  the  great 
crowd  passing  to  and  fro,  thronging  the  passage 
as  though  it  had  been  the  entrance  to  the  Forum, 
or  the  "  Salle  de  pas  perdus."  I  had  observed 
my  friend's  eye  gazing  fixedly  through  the  open 
ing  on  the  outer  world.  Suddenly,  with  his  face 
half-covered  with  lather,  and  a  bib  tucked  under 
his  chin,  he  got  up  from  his  seat  exclaiming, 
"Senator!  Senator!  hallo!"  and  made  a  dive 
into  the  passage — whether  he  received  a  stern 
rebuke,  or  became  aware  of  his  impropriety,  I 
know  not,  but  in  an  instant  he  came  back  again, 
and  submitted  quietly,  till  the  work  of  the  barber 
was  completed. 

The  great  employment  of  four-fifths  of  the  peo 
ple  at  Willard's  at  present  seems  to  be  to  hunt 
senators  and  congress  men  through  the  lobbies. 
Every  man  is  heavy  with  documents  —  those 
which  he  -cannot  carry  in  his  pockets  and  hat, 
occupy  his  hands,  or  are  thrust  under  his  arms. 
In  the  hall  are  advertisements  announcing  that 
certificates,  and  letters  of  testimonial,  and  such 
documents,  are  printed  with  expedition  and  neat 
ness.  From  paper  collars,  and  cards  of  address 
to  carriages,  and  new  suites  of  clothes,  and  long 
hotel  bills,  nothing  is  left  untried  or  uninvigor- 
ated.  The  whole  city  is  placarded  with  an 
nouncements  of  facilities  for  assaulting  the  pow 
ers  that  be,  among  which  must  not  be  forgotten 
the  claims  of  the  "excelsior  card-writer, "-at 
Willard's,  who  prepares  names,  addresses,  styles, 
and  titles  in  superior  penmanship.  The  men 
who  have  got  places,  having  been  elected  by  the 
people,  must  submit  to  the  people,  who  think 
thev  have  established  a  claim  on  them  bv  their 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


27 


favours.  The  majority  confer  power,  but  they 
seem  to  forget  that  it  is  only  the  minority  who 
can  enjoy  the  first  fruits  of  success.  It  is  as  if 
the  whole  constituency  of  Marylebone  insisted 
on  getting  some  office  under  the  Crown  the  mo 
ment  a  member  was  returned  to  Parliament. 
There  are  men  at  Willard's  who  have  come  lit 
erally  thousands  of  miles  to  seek  for  places  which 
can  only  be  theirs  for  four  years,  and  who  with 
true  American  facility  have  abandoned  the  call 
ing  and  pursuits  of  a  lifetime  for  this  doubtful 
canvas ;  and  I  was  told  of  one  gentleman,  who 
having  been  informed  that  he  could  not  get  a 
judgeship,  condescended  to  seek  a  place  in  the 
Post  Office,  and  finally  applied  to  Mr.  Chase  to 
be  appointed  keeper  of  a  "lighthouse,"  he  was 
not  particular  where.  In  the  forenoon  I  drove 
to  the  Washington  Navy  Yard,  in  company  with 
Lieutenant  Nelson  and  two  friends.  It  is  about 
two  miles  outside  the  city,  situated  on  a  fork  of 
land  projecting  between  a  creek  and  the  Potomac 
river,  which  is  here  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
broad.  If  the  French  had  a  Navy  Yard  at  Par- 

*~is  it  could  scarcely  be  contended  that  English, 
Russians,  or  Austrians  would  not  have  been  jus 
tified  in  destroying  it  in  case  they  got  possession 
of  the  city  by  force  of  arms,  after  a  pitched  bat 
tle  fought  outside  its  gates.  I  confess  I  would 
not  give  much  for  Deptford  or  Woolwich  if  an 
American  fleet  succeeded  in  forcing  its  way  up 
the  Thames ;  but  our  American  cousins, — a  lit 
tle  more  than  kin  and  less  than  kind,  who  speak 
with  pride  of  Paul  Jones  and  of  their  exploits 
on  the  Lakes, — affect  to  regard  the  burning  of 
the  Washington  Navy  Yard  by  us,  in  the  last 
war,  as  an  unpardonable  outrage  on  the  law  of 
nations,  and  an  atrocious  exercise  of  power. 
For  all  the  good  it  did,  for  my  own  part,  I  think 
it  were  as  well  had  it  never  happened,  but  no 

'  jurisconsult  will  for  a  moment  deny  that  it  was 
a  legitimate,  even  if  extreme,  exercise  of  a  bel 
ligerent  right  in  the  case  of  an  enemy  who  did 
not  seek  terms  from  the  conqueror ;  and  who, 
after  battle  lost,  fled  arid  abandoned  the  proper 
ty  of  their  state,  which  might  be  useful  to  them 
in  war,  to  the  power  of  the  victor.  Notwith 
standing  all  the  unreasonableness  of  the  Ameri 
can  people  in  reference  to  their  relations  with 
foreign  powers,  it  is  deplorable  such  scenes  should 
ever  have  been  enacted  between  members  of  the 
human  family  so  closely  allied  by  all  that  shall 
make  them  of  the  same  household. 

The  Navy  Yard  is  surrounded  by  high  brick 
walls  ;  in  the  gateway  stood  two  sentries  in  dark 
blue  tunics,  yellow  facings,  with  eagle  buttons, 
brightly  polished  arms,  and  white  Berlin  gloves, 
wearing  a  cap  something  like  a  French  kepi,  all 
very  clean  and  creditable.  Inside  are  some  few 
trophies  of  guns  taken  from  us  at  York  Town, 
and  from  the  Mexicans  in  the  land  of  Cortez. 
The  interior  inclosure  is  surrounded  by  red  brick 
houses  and  stores  and  magazines,  picked  out  with 
white  stone ;  and  two  or  three  green  grass-plots, 
fenced  in  by  pillars  and  chains  and  bordered  by 
trees,  give  an  air  of  agreeable  freshness  to  the 
place.  Close  to  the  Viver  are  the  workshops: 
of  course  there  is  smoke  ant]  noise  of  steam  and 
machinei'y.  In  a  modest  office,  surrounded  by 
bookg,  papers,  drawings,  and  models,  as  well  as 
by  shell  and  shot  and  racks  of  arms  of  different 
descriptions,  we  found  Capt.  Dnhlgren,  the  act 
ing  superintendent  of  the  yard,  and  the  inventor 


'  of  the  famous  gun  which  bears  his  name,  and  is 

:  the  favourite  armament  of  the  American  navy. 
By  our  own  sailors  they  are  irreverently  term 
ed  "soda-water  bottles,"  owing  to  their  shape. 
Capt.  Dahlgren  contends  that  guns  capable  of 
throwing  the  heaviest  shot  may  be  constructed 
of  cast-iron,  carefully  prepared  and  moulded  so 
that  the  greatest  thickness  of  metal  maybe  placed 
at  the  points  of  resistance,  at  the  base  of  the  gun, 
the  muzzle  and  forward  portions  being  of  very 
moderate  thickness. 

All  inventors,  or  even  adapters  of  systems, 
must  be  earnest  self-reliant  persons,  full  of  con 
fidence,  and,  above  all,  impressive,  or  they  will 
make  little  way  in  the  conservative,  status-quo- 
loving  world.  Captain  Dahlgren  has  certainly 
most  of  these  characteristics,  but  he  has  to  fight 
with  his  navy  department,  with  the  army,  with 

i  boards  and  with  commissioners, — in  fact,  with 

I  all  sorts  of  obstructors.  When  I  was  going  over 
the  yard,  he  deplored  the  parsimony  of  the  de 
partment,  which  refused  to  yield  to  his  urgent 
entreaties  for  additional  furnaces  to  cast  guns. 

No  large  guns  are  cast  at  Washington.  The 
foundries  are  only  capable  of  turning  out  brass 
field  -  pieces  and  boat  -  guns.  Capt.  Dahlgi'en 
obligingly  got  one  of  the  latter  out  to  practice 
for  us — a  12-pounder  howitzer,  which  can  be  car 
ried  in  a  boat,  run  on  land  on  its  carriage,  which 
is  provided  with  wheels,  and  is  so  light  that  the 
gun  can  be  drawn  readily  about  by  the  crew. 
He  made  some  good  practice  with  shrapnel  at  a 
target  1200  yards  distant,  firing  so  rapidly  as  to 
keep  tln-ee  shells  in  the  air  at  the  same  time. 
Compared  with  our  establishments,  this  dock 
yard  is  a  mere  toy,  and  but  few  hands  are  em 
ployed  in  it.  One  steam  sloop,  the  "Pawnee," 
was  under  the  shears,  nearly  ready  for  sea :  the 
frame  of  another  was  under  the  building-shed. 
There  are  no  facilities  for  making  iron  ships,  or 
putting  on  plate-armour  here.  Everything  was 
shown  to  us  with  the  utmost  frankness.  The 
fuse  of  the  Dahlgren  shell  is  constructed  on  the 
vis  inertia?  principle,  and  is  not  unlike  that  of  the 
Armstrong. 

On  returning  to  the  hotel,  I  found  a  magnifi- 

1  cent  bouquet  of  flowers,  with  a  card  attached  to 
them,  with  Mrs.  Lincoln's  compliments,  and  an- 

|  other  card  announcing  that  she  had  a  "recep- 

i  tion"  at  3  o'clock.  It  was  rather  late  before  I 
could  get  to  the  White  House,  and  there  were 
only  two  or  three  ladies  in  the  drawing-roorn 
when  I  arrived.  I  was  informed  afterwards 
that  the  attendance  was  very  scanty.  The  Wash 
ington  ladies  have  not  yet  made  up  their  minds 
that  Mrs.  Lincoln  is  the  fashion.  They  miss 
their  Southern  friends,  and  constantly  draw  com 
parisons  between  them  and  the  vulgar  Yankee 
women  and  men  who  are  now  in  power.  I  do 
not  know  enough  to  say  whether  the  affectation 

!  of  superiority  be  justified ;  but  assuredly  if  New 
York'  be  Yankee,  there  is  nothing  in  which  it 
does  not  far  surpass  this  preposterous  capital. 

i  The  impression  of  homeliness  produced  by  Mrs. 
Lincoln  on  first  sight,  is  not  diminished  by  closer 
acquaintance.  Few  women  not  to  the  manner 
born  there  are,  whose  heads  would  not  be  disor- 

(  dered,  and  circulation  disturbed,  by  a  rapid  tran 
sition,  almost  instantaneous,  from  a  condition  of 
obscurity  in  a  country  town  to  be  mistress  of  the 
White  House.  Her  smiles  and  her  frowns  be 
come  a  matter  of  consequence  to  tire  whole 


28 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


American  world.  As  the  wife  of  the  country 
lawyer,  or  even  of  the  congress  man,  her  move 
ments  were  of  no  consequence.  The  journals  of 
Springfield  would  not  have  wasted  a  line  upon 
them.  Now,  if  she  but  drive  down  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  the  electric  wire  thrills  the  news  to  every 
hamlet  in  the  Union  which  has  a  newspaper ; 
and  fortunate  is  the  correspondent  who,  in  a  spe 
cial  despatch,  can  give  authentic  particulars  of 
her  destination  and  of  her  dress.  The  lady  is 
surrounded  by  flatterers  and  intriguers,  seeking 
for  influence  or  such  places  as  she  can  give.  As 
Selden  says,  "  Those  who  wish  to  set  a  house  on 
fire  begin'with  the  thatch." 

March  31st,  Easter  Sunday. — I  dined  with 
Lord  Lyons  and  the  members  of  the  Legation  ; 
the  only  stranger  present  being  Senator  Sumner. 
Politics  were  of  cour§e  eschewed,  for  Mr.  Sum 
ner  is  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations  of  the  Senate,  and  Lord  Lyons  is  a 
very  discreet  Minister ;  but  still  there  crept  in  a 
word  of  Pickens  and  Sumter,  and  that  was  all. 
Mr.  Fox,  formerly  of  the  United  States'  Navy, 
and  since  that  a  master  of  a  steamer  in  the  com 
mercial  marine,  who  is  related  to  Mr.  Blair,  has 
been  sent  on  some  mission  to  Fort  Sumter,  and 
has  been  allowed  to  visit  Major  Anderson  by  the 
authorities  at  Charleston  ;  but  it  is  not  known 
what  was  the  object  of  .his  mission.  Everywhere 
there  is  Secession  resignation,  in  a  military  sense 
of  the  word.  The  Southern  Commissioners  de 
clare  they  will  soon  retire  to  Montgomery  >  and 
that  any  attempt  to  reinforce  or  supply  the  forts 
will  be  a  casus  belli.  There  is  the  utmost  anx 
iety  to  know  what  Virginia  will  do.  General 
Scott  belongs  to  the  State,  and  it  is  feared  he 
may  be  shaken  if  the  State  goes  out.  Already 
the  authorities  of  Richmond  have  intimated  they 
will  not  allow  the  foundry  to  furnish  guns  to  the 
seaboard  forts,  such  as  Monroe  and  Norfolk  in 
Virginia.  This  concession  of  an  autonomy  is 
really  a  recognition  of  States'  Rights.  For  if  a 
State  can  vote  itself  in  or  out  of  the  Union,  why 
can  it  not  make  war  or  peace,  and  accept  or  re 
fuse  the  Federal  Government  ?  In  fact,  the  Fed 
eral  system  is  radically  defective  against  internal 
convulsion,  however  excellent  it  is  or  may  be  for 
purposes  of  external  polity.  I  walked  home  with 
Mr.  Sumner  to  his  rooms,  and  heard  some  of  his 
views,  which  were  not  so  sanguine  as  those  of 
Mr.  Seward,  and  I  thought  I  detected  a  desire 
to  let  the  Southern  States  go  out  with  their 
slavery  if  they  so  desired  it.  Mr.  Chase,  by  the 
way,  expressed  sentiments  of  the  same  kind  more 
decidedly  the  other  day. 

April  1st. — On  Easter  Monday,  after  breakfast 
with  Mr.  Olmsted,  I  drove  over  to  visit  Senator 
Douglas.  Originally  engaged  in  some  mechan 
ical  avocation,  by  his  ability  and  eloquence  he 
has  raised  himself  to  the  highest  position  in  the 
State  short  of  the  Presidency,  which  might  have 
been  his  but  for  the  extraordinary  success  of  his 
opponent  in  a  fortuitous  suffrage  scramble.  He 
is  called  the  Little  Giant,  being  modo  bipedali 
staturd,  but  his  head  entitles  him  to  some  recog 
nition  of  intellectual  height.  His  sketch  of  the 
causes  which  have  led  to  the  present  disruption 
of  parties,  and  the  hazard  of  civil  war,  was  most 
vivid  and  able ;  and  for  more  than  an  hour  he 
spoke  with  a  vigour  of  thought  and  terseness  of 
phrase  which,  even  on  such  dreary  and  unin- 
yiting  themes  as  squatter  sovereignty  and  the 


Kansas-Nebraska  question,  interested  a  foreigner 
in  the  man  and  the  subject.  Although  his  sym 
pathies  seemed  to  go  with  the  South  on  the  ques 
tion  of  slavery  and  territorial  extension,  he  con 
demned  altogether  the  attempt  to  destroy  the 
Union. 

April  2nd. — The  following  day  I  started  ear 
ly,  and  performed  my  pilgrimage  to  "the  shrine 
of  St.  Washington,"  at  Mount  Vernon,  as  a  for 
eigner  on  board  called  the  place.  Mr.  Bancroft 
has  in  his  possession  a  letter  of  the  General's 
mother,  in  which  she  expresses  her  gratification 
at  his  leaving  the  British  army  in  a  manner 
which  implies  that  he  had  been  either  extrava 
gant  in  his  expenses  or  wild  in  his  manner  of 
living.  But  if  he  had  any  human  frailties  in 
after  life,  they  neither  offended  the  morality  of 
his  age,  or  shocked  the  susceptibility  of  his  coun 
trymen  ;  and  from  the  time  that  the  much  ma 
ligned  and  unfortunate  Braddock  gave  scope  to 
his  ability,  down  to  his  retirement  into  private 
life,  after  a  career  of  singular  trials  and  extraor 
dinary  successes,  his  character  acquired  each 
day  greater  altitude,  strength,  and  lustre.  Had"1 
his  work  failed,  had  the  Republic  broken  up  into 
small  anarchical  states,  we  should  hear  now  lit 
tle  of  Washington.  But  the  principles  of  liber 
ty  founded  in  the  original  Constitution  of  the 
colonies  themselves,  and  in  no  degree  derived 
from  or  dependent  on  the  revolution,  combined 
with  the  sufferings  of  the  Old  and  the  bounty  of 
nature  in  the  New  World  to  carry  to  an  unprec 
edented  degree  the  material  prosperity,  which 
Americans  have  mistaken  for  good  government, 
and  the  physical  comforts  which  have  made  some 
States  in  theXTnion  the  nearest  approach  to  Uto 
pia.  The  Federal  Government  hitherto  "let  the 
people  alone,"  and  they  went  on  their  way  sing 
ing  and  praising  their  Washington  as  the  author 
of  so  much  greatness  and  happiness.  To  doubt 
his  superiority  to  any  man  of  woman  born,  is  to 
insult  the  American  people.  They  are  not  con 
tent  with  his  being  great — or  even  greater  than 
the  great:  he  must  be  greatest  of  all; — "first 
in  peace,  and  first  in  war."  The  rest  of  the 
world  cannot  find  fault  Avith  the  assertion,  that 
he  is  "first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen." 
But  he  was  not  possessed  of  the  highest  military 
qualities,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  most  of  the  reg 
ular  actions,  in  which  the  British  had  the  best 
of  it ;  and  the  final  blow,  when  Cornwallis  sur 
rendered  at  York  Town,  was  struck  by  the  arm 
of  France,  by  Rochambeau  and  the  French  fleet, 
rather  than  by  Washington  and  his  Americans. 
He  had  all  the  qualities  for  the  Avork  for  Avhich 
he  Avas  designed,  and  is  fairly  entitled  to  the  po 
sition  his  countrymen  haA^e  given  him  as  the  im 
mortal  czar  of  the  United  States.  His  pictures 
are  visible  eATeryAvhere — in  the  humblest  inn,  in 
the  Minister's  bureau,  in  the  millionaire's  galle 
ry.  There  are  far  more  engravings  of  Wash 
ington  in  America  than  there  are  of  Napoleon 
in  France,  and  that  is  saying  a  good  deal. 

What  have  AVC  here  ?  The  steamer.  Avhich  has 
been  paddling  doAvn  the  gentle  current  of  the 
Potomac,  here  a  mile  or  more  in  breadth,  bank 
ed  in  by  forest,  through  Avhich  can  be  seen  home 
steads  and  white  farm-houses,  in  the  midst  of 
large  clearings  and  corn-fields — has  moved  in 
towards  a  high  bluff,  covered  with  trees,  on  the 
summit  of  Avhich  is  visible  the  trace  of  some  sort 
of  building — a  ruined  summer-house,  rustic  tern- 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SoUTH. 


pie — whatever  it  may  be ;  and  the  bell  on  deck 
begins  to  toll  solemnly,  and  some  of  the  pilgrim 
uncover  their  heads  for  a  moment.  The  boat 
stops  at  a  rotten,  tumble-down  little  pier,  which 
leads  to  a  waste  of  mud,  and  a  path  rudely  cut 
through  the  wilderness  of  briars  on  the  hill-side. 
The  pilgrims,  of  whom  there  are  some  thirty  or 
forty,  of  both  sexes,  mostly  belonging  to  the  low 
er  classes  of  citizens,  and  comprising  a  few  for 
eigners  like  myself,  proceed  to  climb  this  steep, 
which  seemed  in  a  state  of  nature  covered  with 
primeval  forest,  and  tangled  weeds  and  briars, 
till  the  plateau,  on  which  stands  the  house  of 
Washington  and  the  domestic  offices  around  it, 
is  reached.  It  is  an  oblong  wooden  house,  of 
two  stories  in  height,  with  a  colonnade  towards 
the  river  face,  and  a  small  balcony  on  the  top 
and  on  the  level  of  the  roof,  over  which  rises  a 
little  paltry  gazebo.  There  are  two  windows,  a 
glass  door  at  one  end  of  the  oblong,  and  a  wood 
en  alcove  extending  towards  the  slave  quarters, 
which  are  very  small  sentry-box  huts,  that  have 
been  recently  painted,  and  stand  at  right  angles 
to  the  end  of  the  house,  with  dog-houses  and 
poultry-hutches  attached  to  them.  There  is  no 
attempt  at  neatness  or  order  about  the  place; 
though  the  exterior  of  the  house  is  undergoing 
repair,  the  grass  is  unkempt,  the  shrubs  untrim- 
xned,  —  neglect,  squalor,  and  chicken  feathers 
have  marked  the  lawn  for  their  own.  The  house 
is  in  keeping,  and  threatens  to  fall  to  ruin.  I 
entered  the  door,  and  found  myself  in  a  small 
hall,  stained  with  tobacco  juice.  An  iron  railing 
ran  across  the  entrance  to  the  stairs.  Here  stood 
a  man  at  a  gate,  who  presented  a  book  to  the 
visitors,  and  pointed^  out  the  notice  therein,  that 
"no  person  is  permitted  to  inscribe  his  name  in 
this  book  who  does  not  contribute  to  the  Wash 
ington  Fund,  and  that  any  name  put  down  with 
out  money  would  be  erased."  Notwithstanding 
the  warning,  some  patriots  succeeded  in  record 
ing  their  names  without  any  pecuniary  mulct, 
and  others  did  so  at  a  most  reasonable  rate. 
When  I  had  contributed  in  a  manner  which 
must  have  represented  an  immense  amount  of 
Washingtoniolatry,  estimated  by  the  standard  of 
the  day,  I  was  informed  I  could  not  go  upstairs, 
as  the  rooms  above  were  closed  to  the  public,  and 
thus  the  most  interesting  portion  of  the  house  was 
shut  from  the  strangers.  The  lower  rooms  pre 
sented  nothing  worthy  of  notice — some  lumber 
ing,  dusty,  decayed  furniture ;  a  broken  harpsi 
chord,  dust,  cobwebs — no  remnant  of  the  man 
himself.  But  over  the  door  of  one  room  hung 
the  key  of  the  Bastille.*  The  gardens,  too, were 
tabooed ;  but  through  the  gate  I  could  see  a  wil 
derness  of  neglected  trees  and  shrubs,  not  un- 
mingled  with  a  suspicion  of  a  present  kitchen- 
ground.  Let  us  pass  to  the  Tomb,  which  is  some 
distance  from  the  house,  beneath  the  shade  of 
some  fine  trees.  It  is  a  plain  brick  mausoleum, 
with  a  pointed  arch,  barred  by  an  iron  grating, 
through  which  the  light  penetrates  a  chamber  or 
small  room  containing  two  sarcophagi  of  stone. 
Over  the  arch,  on  a  slab  let  into  the  brick,  are 
the  words:  "Within  this  enclosure  rest  the  re 
mains  of  Gen.  George  Washington."  The  fallen 


*  Since  borrowed,  it  is  supposed,  by  Mr.  Seward,  and 
handed  over  by  him  to  Mr.  Stanton.  Lafayette  gave  it  to 
Washington,  he  also  gave  his  name  to  the  Fort  which  has 

played  so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  war  for  liberty u  La 

liberte  des  deux  moncles,"  might  well  sigh  if  he  could  seo 
his  work,  and  what  it  has  led  to. 


leaves  which  had  drifted  into  the  chamber  rested 
thickly  on  the  floor,  and  were  piled  up  on  the  sar 
cophagi,  and  it  was  difficult  to  determine  which 
was  the  hero's  grave  without  the  aid  of  an  expert, 
but  there  was  neither  guide  nor  guardian  on  the 
spot.  Some  four  or  five  gravestones,  of  various 
members  of  the  family,  stand  in  the  ground  out 
side  the  little  mausoleum.  The  place  was  most 
depressing.  One  felt  angry  with  a  people  whose 
lip  service  was  accompanied  by  so  little  of  actual 
respect.  The  owner  of  this  property,  inherited 
from  the  "Pater  Patriae,"  has  been  abused  in 
good  set  terms  because  he  asked  its  value  from 
the  country  which  has  been  so  very  mindful  of 
the  services  of  his  ancestor,  and  which  is  now 
erecting  by  slow  stages  the  overgrown  Cleopatra's 
needle  that  is  to  be  a  Washington  monument 
when  it  is  finished.  Mr.  Everett  has  been  lec 
turing,  the  Ladies'  Mount  Vernon  Association 
has  been  working,  and  every  one  has  been  ad 
juring  everybody  else  to  give  liberally ;  but  the 
result  so  lately  achieved  is  by  no  means  worthy 
of  the  object.  Perhaps  the  Americans  think  it  is 
enough  to  say — "Si  monumentum  quceris,  circum- 
spice."  But,  at  all  events,  there  is  a  St.  Paul's 
round  those  words. 

On  the  return  of  the  steamer  I  visited  ForU 
Washington,  which  is  situated  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Potomac.  I  found  everything  in  a  state 
of  neglect — gun-carriages  rotten,  shot-piles  rusty, 
furnaces  tumbling  to  pieces.  The  place  might 
be  made  strong  enough  on  the  river  front,  but 
the  rear  is  weak,  though  there  is  low  marshy 
land  at  the  back.  A  company  of  regulars  were 
on  duty.  The  sentries  took  no  precautions 
against  surprise.  Twenty  determined  men,  arm 
ed  with  revolvers,  could  have  taken  the  whole 
work ;  and,  for  all  the  authorities  knew,  we  might 
have  had  that  number  of  Virginians  and  the  fa 
mous  Ben  McCullough  himself  on  board.  Aft 
erwards,  when  I  ventured  to  make  a  remark  to 
General  Scott  as  to  the  carelessness  of  the  garri 
son,  he  said ;  "A  few  weeks  ago  it  might  have 
been  taken  with  a  bottle  of  whiskey.  The  whole 
garrison  consisted  of  an  old  Irish  pensioner." 
Now  at  this  very  moment  Washington  is  full  of 
rumours  of  desperate  descents  on  the  capital,  and 
an  attack  on  the  President  and  his  Cabinet. 
The  long  bridge  across  the  Potomac  into  Vir 
ginia  is  guarded,  and  the  militia  and  volunteers 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  are  to  be  called  out 
to  resist  McCullough  and  his  Richmond  despera 
does. 

April  3rd. — I  had  an  interview  with  the  South 
ern  Commissioners  to-day,  at  their  hotel.  For 
more  than  an  hour  I  heard,  from  men  of  position 
and  of  different  sections  in  the  South,  expres 
sions  which  satisfied  me  the  Union  could  never 
be  restored,  if  they  truly  represented  the  feelings 
and  opinions  of  their  fellow-citizens.  They  have 
the  idea  they  are  ministers  of  a  foreign  "power 
treating  with  Yankeedom,  and  their  indignation 
is  moved  by  the  refusal  of  Government  to  nego 
tiate  with  them,  armed  as  they  are  with  full  au 
thority  to  arrange  all  questions  arising  out  of  an 
amicable  separation — such  as  the  adjustment  of 
Federal  claims  for  property,  forts,  stores,  public 
works,  debt,  land  purchases,  and  the  like.  One 
of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  Mr.  Campbell,  is  their  intermediaiy, 
and  of  course  it  is  not  known  what  hopes  Mr. 
Seward  has  held  out  to  him ;  but  there  is  some 


30 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


imputation  of  Punic  faith  against  the  Govern 
ment  on  account  of  recent  acts,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  the  Commissioners  hear,  as  I  do,  that 
there  are  preparations  at  the  Navy  Yard  and  at 
New  York  to  relieve  Sumter,  at  any  rate,  with 
provisions,  and  that  Fickens  has  actually  been 
reinforced  by  sea.  In  the  evening  I  dined  at  the 
British  Legation,  and  went  over  to  the  house  of 
the  Russian  minister,  M.  de  Stoeckl,  in  the  even 
ing.  The  diplomatic  body  in  Washington  con 
stitute  a  small  and  very  agreeable  society  of 
their  own,  in  which  few  Americans  mingle  ex 
cept  at  the  receptions  and  large  evening  assem 
blies.  As  the  people  now  in  power  are  nov i  hom 
ines,  the  wives  and  daughters  of  ministers  aud  at 
taches  are  deprived  of  their  friends  who  belong 
ed  to  the  old  society  in  Washington,  and  who 
have  cither  gone  off  to  Secession,  or  sympathise 
so  deeply  with  the  Southern  States  that  it  is 
scarcely  becoming  to  hold  very  intimate  relations 
with  them  in  the  face  of  Government,  From 
the  house  of  M.  de  Stoeckl  I  went  to  a  party  at 
the  residence  of  M.  Tassara,  the  Spanish  Minis 
ter,  where  there  was  a  crowd  of  diplomats,  young 
and  old.  Diplomatists  seldom  or  never  talk  pol 
itics,  and  so  Pickens  and  Sumter  were  unheard 
\>f ;  but  it  is  stated  nevertheless  that  Virginia  is 
on  the  eve  of  secession,  and  will  certainly  go  if 
the  President  attempts  to  use  force  in  relieving 
and  strengthening  the  Federal  forts. 

April  Ith. — I  had  a  long  interview  with  Mr. 
Seward  ^o-day  at  the  State  Department.  He 
set  forth  at  great  length  the  helpless  condition 
in  which  the  President  and  the  cabinet  found 
themselves  when  they  began  the  conduct  of  pub 
lic  affairs  at  Washington.  The  last  cabinet  had 
tampered  with  treason,  and  had  contained  trait 
ors  ;  a  miserable  imbecility  had  encouraged  the 
leaders  of  the  South  to  mature  their  plans,  and 
had  furnished  them  with  the  means  of  carrying 
out  their  design.  One  Minister  had  purposely 
sent  away  the  navy  of  the  United  States  to  dis 
tant  and  scattered  stations ;  another  had  pur 
posely  placed  the  arms,  ordnance,  and  munitions 
of  war  in  undue  proportions  in  the  Southern 
States,  and  had  weakened  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  so  that  they  might  easily  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  traitors  and  enable  them  to  secure 
the  war  materiel  of  the  Union  ;  a  Minister  had 
stolen  the  public  funds  for  traitorous  purposes — 
in  every  port,  in  every  department  of  the  State,  at 
home  and  abroad,  on  sea  and  by  land,  men  were 
placed  who  were  engaged  in  this  deep  conspir 
acy — and  when  the  voice  of  the  people  declared 
Mr.  Lincoln  President  of  the  United  States,  they 
set  to  work  as  one  man  to  destroy  the  Union  un 
der  the  most  flimsy  pretexts.  The  President's 
duty  was" clearly  defined  bv  the  Constitution.  He 
had  to  guard  what  he  had,  and  to  regain,  if  pos 
sible,  what  he  had  lost.  He  would  not  consent 
to  any  dismemberment  of  the  Union  nor  to  the 
abandonment  of  one  iota  of  Federal  property — 
nor  could  he  do  so  if  he  desired. 

These  and  many  more  topics  were  presented 
to  me  to  show  that  the  Cabinet  were  not  account 
able  for  the  temporising  policy  of  inaction,  which 
was  forced  upon  them  by  circumstances,  and  that 
they  would  deal  vigorously  with  the  Secession 
movement — as  vigorously  as  Jackson  did  with 
nullification  in  South  Carolina,  if  they  had  the 
means.  But  what  could  they  do  when  such 
men  as  Twiggs  surrendered  his  trust  and  sacri 


ficed  the  troops  to  a  crowd  of  Texans ;  or  when 
naval  and  military  officers  resigned  en  masse,  that 
they  might  accept  service  in  the  rebel  forces  ? 
All  this  excitement  would  come  right  in  a  very 
short  time — it  was  a  brief  madness,  which  would 
pass  away  when  the  people  had  opportunity  for 
reflection.  Meantime  the  danger  was  that  for 
eign  powers  would  be  led  to  imagine  the  Federal 
Government  was  too  weak  to  defend  its  rights, 
and  that  the  attempt  to  destroy  the  Union  and 
to  set  up  a  Southern  Confederacy  was  success 
ful.  In  other  words,  again,  Mr.  Seward  fears 
that,  in  this  transition  state  between  their  forced 
inaction  and  the  coup  by  which  they  intend  to 
strike  down  Secession,  Great  Britain  may  recog 
nise  the  Government  established  at  Montgomery, 
and  is  ready,  if  needs  be,  to  threaten  Great  Brit 
ain  with  war  as  the  consequence  of  such  recog 
nition.  But  he  certainly  assumed  the  existence 
of  strong  Union  sentiments  in  many  of  the  se 
ceded  States,  as  a  basis  for  his  remarks,  and  ad 
mitted  that  it  would  not  become  the  spirit  of  the 
American  Government,  or  of  the  Federal  system, 
to  use  armed  force  in  subjugating  the  Southern 
States  against  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the  peo 
ple.  Therefore  if  the  majority  desire  Secession, 
Mr.  Seward  would  let  them  have  it — but  he  can 
not  believe  in  anything  so  monstrous,  for  to  him 
the  Federal  Government  and  Constitution,  as  in 
terpreted  by  his  party,  are  divine,  heaven-born. 
He  is  fond  of  repeating  that  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  never  yet  sacrificed  any  man's  life  on  ac 
count  of  his  political  opinions,  but  if  this  strug 
gle  goes  on  it  will  sacrifice  thousands  —  tens  of 
thousands,  to  the  idea  of  a  Federal  Union. 
"Any  attempt  against  us,"^ie  said,  "would  re 
volt  the  good  men  of  the  South,  and  arm  all  men 
in  the  North  to  defend  their  Government." 

But  I  had  seen  that  day  an  assemblage  of  men 
doing  a  goose-step  march  forth  dressed  in  blue 
tunics  and  grey  trowsers,  shakoes  and  cross-belts, 
armed  with  musket  and  bayonet,  cheering  and 
hurrahing  in  the  square  before  the  War  Depart 
ment,  who  were,  I  am  told,  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia  volunteers  and  militia.  They  had  in 
deed  been  visible  in  various  forms  parading, 
marching,  and  trumpeting  about  the  town  with 
a  poor  imitation  of  French  pas  and  elan,  but  they 
did  not,  to  the  eye  of  a  soldier,  give  any  appear 
ance  of  military  efficiency,  or  to  the  eye  of  the 
anxious  statesman  any  indication  of  the  animus 
pugnandi.  Starved,  washed-out  creatures  most 
of  them,  interpolated  with  Irish  and  flat-footed, 
stumpy  Germans.  It  was  matter  for  wonder 
ment  that  the  Foreign  Minister  of  a  nation 
which  was  in  such  imminent  danger  in  its  very 
capital,  and  which,  with  its  chief  and  his  cabi 
net,  was  almost  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy,  should 
hold  the  language  I  was  aware  he  had  transmit 
ted  to  the  most  powerful  nations  of  Europe. 
Was  it  consciousness  of  the  strength  of  a  great 
people,  who  would  be  united  by  the  first  appre 
hension  of  foreign  interference,  or  was  it  the  pe 
culiar  emptiness  of  a  bombast  which  is  called 
Buncombe  ?  In  all  sincerity  I  think  Mr.  Sew 
ard  meant  it  as  it  was  written. 

When  I  arrived  at  the  hotel,  I  found  our  young 
artist  waiting  for  me,  to  entreat  I  would  permit 
him  to  accompany  me  to  the  South.  I  had  been 
annoyed  by  a  paragraph  which  had  appeared  in 
several  papers,  to  the  effect  that  "The  talented 
young  artist,  our  gifted  countryman,  Mr.  Deo- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


dore  F.  Moses,  was  about  to  accompany  Mr.  &c. 
&c.,  in  his  tour  through  the  South."  I  had  in 
formed  the  young  gentleman  that  I  could  not 
sanction  such  an  announcement,  whereupon  he 
assured  me  he  had  not  in  any  way  authorised  it, 
but  having  mentioned  incidentally  to  a  person 
connected  with  the  press  that  he  was  going  to 
travel  southwards  with  me,  the  injudicious  zeal 
of  his  friend  had  led  him  to  think  he  would  do  a 
service  to  the  youth  by  making  the  most  of  the 
very  trifling  circumstance. 

I  dined  with  Senator  Douglas,  where  there 
was  a  large  party,  among  whom  were  Mr.  Chase, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  Mr.  Smith,  Secretary 
of  the  Interior ;  Mr.  Forsyth,  Southern  Commis 
sioner  ;  and  several  members  of  the  Senate  and 
Congress.  Mrs.  Douglas  did  the  honours  of  her 
house  with  grace  and  charming  goodnature, 
observe  a  great  tendency  to  abstract  speculation 
and  theorising  among  Americans,  and  their 
after-dinner  conversation  is  apt  to  become  didac 
tic  and  sententious.  Few  men  speak  better  than 
Senator  Douglas :  his  words  are  well  chosen,  the 
flow  of  his  ideas  even  and  constant,  his  intellect 
vigorous,  and  thoughts  well  cut,  precise,  and  vig 
orous — he  seems  a  man  of  great  ambition,  and 
he  told  me  he  is  engaged  in  preparing  a  sort  of 
Zollverein  scheme  for  the  North  American  con 
tinent,  including  Canada,  which  will  fix  public 
attention  everywhere,  and  may  lead  to  a  settle 
ment  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  controver 
sies.  For  his  mind,  as  for  that  of  many  Amer 
icans,  the  aristocratic  idea  embodied  in  Russia 
is  very  seductive  ;  and  he  dwelt  with  pleasure  on 
the  courtesies  he  had  received  at  the  court  of  the 
Czar,  implying  that  he  had  been  treated  differ 
ently  in  England,  and  perhaps  France.  And 
yet,  had  Mr.  Douglas  become  President  of  the 
United  States,  his  goodwill  towards  Great  Brit 
ain  might  have  been  invaluable,  and  surely  it  had 
been  cheaply  purchased  by  a  little  civility  and 
attention  to  a  distinguished  citizen  and  states 
man  of  the  Republic.  Our  Galleos  very  often 
care  for  none  of  these  things. 

April  oth. — Dined  with  the  Southern  Com 
missioners  and  a  small  party  at  Gautier's,  a 
French  restaurateur  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue. 
The  gentlemen  present  were,  I  need  not  say,  all 
of  one  way  of  thinking ;  but  as  these  leaves  will 
sec  the  light  before  the  civil  war  is  at  an  end,  it 
is  advisable  not  to  give  their  names,  for  it  would 
expose  persons  resident  in  Washington,  who  may 
not  be  suspected  by  the  Government,  to  those 
marks  of  attention  which  they  have  not  yet  ceased 
to  pay  to  their  political  enemies.  Although  I 
confess  that  in  my  judgment  too  much  stress  has 
been^laid  in  England  on  the  severity  with  which 
the  Federal  authorities  have  acted  towards  their 
political  enemies,  who  were  seeking  their  de 
struction,  it  may  be  candidly  admitted,  that  they 
have  forfeited  all  claim  to  the  lofty  position  they 
once  occupied  as  a  Government  existing  by  mor 
al  force,  and  by  the  consent  of  the  governed,  to 
which  Bastilles  and  lettres  de  cachet,  arbitrary 
arrests,  and  doubtful,  illegal,  if  not  altogether 
unconstitutional,  suspension  of  habeas  corpus  and 
of  trial  by  jury  were  unknown. 

As  Col.  Pickett  and  Mr.  Banks  are  notorious 
Secessionists,  and  Mr.  Phillips  has  since  gone 
South,  after  the  arrest  of  his  wife  on  account  of 
her  anti-federal  tendencies,  it  may  be  permitted 
to  mention  that  they  were  among"  the  guests.  I 


!  had  pleasure  in  making  the  acquaintance  of 
Governor  Roman.  Mr.  Crawford,  his  brother 
commissioner,  is  a  much  younger  man,  of  con 
siderably  greater  energy  and  determination,  but 
probably  of  less  judgment.  The  third  commis 
sioner,  Mr.  Forsyth,  is  fanatical  in  his  opposi 
tion  to  any  suggestions  of  compromise  or  recon 
struction  ;  but,  indeed,  upon  that  point,  there  is 
little  difference  of  opinion  amongst  any  of  the 
real  adherents  of  the  South.  Mr.  Lincoln  they 
spoke  of  with  contempt ;  Mr.  Seward  they  evi 
dently  regarded  as  the  ablest  and  most  unscru 
pulous  of  their  enemies;  but  the  tone  in  which  v 
they  alluded  to  the  whole  of  the  Northern  people  ! 
indicated  the  clear  conviction  that  trade,  com 
merce,  the  pursuit  of  gain,  manufacture,  and  the 
base  mechanical  arts,  had  so  degraded  the  whole 
race,  they  would  never  attempt  to  strike  a  blow 
in  fair  fight  for  what  they  prized  so  highly  in 
theory  and  in  words.  Whether  it  be  in  conse 
quence  of  some  secret  influence  which  slavery 
has  upon  the  minds  of  men,  or  that  the  aggres 
sion  of  the  North  upon  their  institutions  has  been 
of  a  nature  to  excite  the  deepest  animosity  and 
most  vindictive  hate,  certain  it  is  there  is  a  de 
gree  of  something  like  ferocity  in  the  Southern 
mind  towards  New  England  which  exceeds  be 
lief.  I  am  persuaded  that  these  feelings  of  con 
tempt  are  extended  towards  England.  They  be 
lieve  that  we,  too,  have  had  the  canker  of  peace 
upon  us.  One  evidence  of  this,  according  to 
Southern  men,  is  the  abolition  of  duelling.  This 
practice,  according  to  them,  is  highly  wholesome 
and  meritorious ;  and,  indeed,  it  may  be  admit 
ted  that  in  the  state  of  society  which  is  reported 
to  exist  in  the  Southern  States,  it  is  a  useful 
check  on  such  men  as  it  restrained  in  our  own 
islands  in  the  last  century.  In  the  course  of 
conversation,  one  gentleman  remarked,  that  he 
considered  it  disgraceful  for  any  man  to  take 
money  for  the  dishonour  of  his  wife  or  his  daugh-  ' 
ter.  "With  us,"  he  said,  "  there  is  but  one  mode 
of  dealing  known.  The  man  who  dares  tamper 
with  the  honour  of  a  white  woman,  knows  what 
he  has  to  expect.  We  shoot  him  down  like  a 
dog,  and  no  jury  in  the  South  will  ever  find  any 
man  guilty  of  murder  for  punishing  such  a  scoun 
drel."  An  argument  which  can  scarcely  be  al 
luded  to  was  used  by  them,  to  show  that  these 
offences  in  slave  States  had  not  the  excuse  which 
might  be  adduced  to  diminish  their  gravity  when 
they  occurred  in  States  where  all  the  population 
were  white.  Indeed,  in  this,  as  in  some  other 
matters  of  a  similar  character,  slavery  is  their 
summum  bonum  of  morality,  physical  excellence, 
and  social  purity.  I  was  inclined  to  question 
the  correctness  of  the  standard  which  they  had 
set  up,  and  to  inquire  whether  the  virtue  which 
needed  this  murderous  use  of  the  pistol  and  the 
dagger  to  defend  it,  was  not  open  to  some  doubt ; 
but  I  found  there  was  very  little  sympathy  with 
my  views  among  the  company. 

The  gentlemen  at  table  asserted  that  the  white 
men  in  the  slave  States  are  physically  superior 
to  the  men  of  the  free  States ;  and  indulged  in 
curious  theories  in  morals  and  physics  to  which 
I  \yas  a  stranger.  Disbelief  of  anything  a  North- 
rn  man — that  is,  a  Republican — can  say,  is  a 
fixed  principle  in  their  minds.  I  could  not  help 
remarking,  when  the  conversation  turned  on  the 
duplicity  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  ihe  wickedness  of 
the  Federal  Government  in  refusing  to  give  the 


32 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


assurance  Sumtcr  would  not  be  relieved  by  force 
of  arms,  that  it  must  be  of  very  little  consequence 
what  promises  Mr.  Seward  made,  as,  according 
to  them,  not  the  least  reliance  was  to  be  placed 
on  his  word.  The  notion  that  the  Northern  men 
are  cowards  is  justified  by  instances  in  which 
Congress-men  have  been  insulted  by  Southern 
men  without  calling  them  out,  and  Mr.  Sumner's 
case  was  quoted  as  the  type  of  the  affairs  of  the 
kind  between  the  two  sides. 
.  I  happened  to  say  that  I  always  understood 
Mr.  Sumner  had  been  attacked  suddenly  and  un 
expectedly,  and  struck  down  before  he  could  rise 
from  his  desk  to  defend  himself;  whereupon  a 
warm  refutation  of  that  version  of  the  story  was 
given,  and  I  was  assured  that  Mr.  Brooks,  who 
was  a  very  slight  man,  and  much  inferior  in 
height  to  Mr.  Sumner,  struck  him  a  slight  blow 
at  first,  and  only  inflicted  the  heavier  strokes 
when  irritated  by  the  Senator's  cowardly  de 
meanor.  In  reference  to  some  remark  made 
about  the  cavaliers  and  their  connection  with  the 
South,  I  reminded  the  gentlemen  that,  after  all, 
the  descendants  of  the  Puritans  were  not  to  be 
despised  in  battle ;  and  that  the  best  gentry  in 
England  were  worsted  at  last  by  the  train-bands 
of  London,  and  the  "rabbledom"  of  Cromwell's 
Independents. 

Mr.,  or  Colonel  Pickett,  is  a  tall,  good-looking 
man,  of  pleasant  manners,  and  well  educated. 
But  this  gentleman  was  a  professed  buccaneer, 
a  friend  of  Walker,  the  grey-eyed  man  of  destiny 
— his  comrade  in  his  most  dangerous  razzie.  He 
was  a  newspaper  writer,  a  soldier,  a  filibuster ; 
and  he  now  threw  himself  into  the  cause  of  the 
South  with  vehemence ;  it  was  not  difficult  to 
imagine  he  saw  in  that  cause  the  realisation  of 
the  dreams  of  empire  in  the  south  of  the  Gulf, 
and  of  conquest  in  the  islands  of  the  sea,  which 
have  such  a  fascinating  influence  over  the  imag 
ination  of  a  large  portion  of  the  American  peo 
ple.  He  referred  to  Walker's  fate  with  much 
bitterness,  and  insinuated  he  was  betrayed  by  the 
British  officer  who  ought  to  have  protected  him. 

The  acts  of  Mr.  Floyd  and  Mr.  Howell  Cobb, 
which  must  be  esteemed  of  doubtful  morality, 
are  here  justified  by  the  States'  Rights  doctrine. 
If  the  States  had  a  right  to  go  out,  they  were 
quite  right  in  obtaining  their  quota  of  the  na 
tional  property  which  would  not  have  been  given 
to  them  by  the  Lincolnites.  Therefore,  their 
friends  were  not  to  be.  censured  because  they  had 
sent  arms  and  money  to  the  South. 

Altogether  the  evening,  notwithstanding  the 
occasional  warmth  of  the  controversy,  was  ex 
ceedingly  instructive  ;  one  could  understand  from 
the  vehemence  and  force  of  the  speakers  the  full 
meaning  of  the  phrase  of  "firing  the  Southern 
heart,"  so  often  quoted  as  an  illustration  of  the 
peculiar  force  of  political  passion  to  be  brought 
to  bear  against  the  Republicans  in  the  Secession 
'contest.  Mr.  Forsyth  struck  me  as  being  the 
most  astute,  and  perhaps  most  capable,  of  the 
gentlemen  whose  mission  to  Washington  seems 
likely  to  be  so  abortive.  His  name  is  historical 
in  America — his  father  filled  high  office,  and  his 
son  has  also  exercised  diplomatic  function.  Des 
potisms  and  Republics  of  the  American  model 
approach  each  other  closely.  In  Turkey  the 
Pasha  unemployed  sinks  into  insignificance,  and 
the  son  of  the  Pasha  deceased  is  literally  nobody. 
Mr.  Forsyth  was  not  selected  as  Southern  Com 


missioner  on  account  of  the  political  status  ac 
quired  by  his  father ;  but  the  position  gained  by 
his  own  ablility,  as  editor  of  "The  Mobile  Reg 
ister,"  induced  the  Confederate  authorities  to  se 
lect  him  for  the  post.  It  is  quite  possible  to  have 
made  a  mistake  in  such  matters,  but  I  am  almost 
certain  that  the  coloured  waiters  who  attended 
us  at  table  looked  as  sour  and  discontented  as 
could  be,  and  seemed  to  give  their  service  with  a 
sort  of  protest.  I  am  told  that  the  tradespeople 
of  Washington  are  strongly  inclined  to  favour 
the  Southern  side. 

April  6th. — To-day  I  paid  a  second  visit  to 
General  Scott,  who  received  me  very  kindly,  and 
made  many  inquiries  respecting  the  events  in  the 
Crimea  and  the  Indian  mutiny  and  rebellion. 
He  professed  to  have  no  apprehension  for  the 
safety  of  the  capital;  but  in  reality  there  are 
only  some  700  or  800  regulars  to  protect  it  and 
the  Navy  Yard,  and  two  field  -  batteries,  com 
manded  by  an  officer  of  very  doubtful  attach 
ment  to  the  Union.  The  head  of  the  Navy  Yard 
is  openly  accused  of  treasonable  sympathies. 

Mr.  Seward  has  definitely  refused  to  hold  any 
intercourse  whatever  with  the  Southern  Commis 
sioners,  and  they  will  retire  almost  immediately 
from  the  capital.  As  matters  look  very  threat 
ening,  I  must  go  South  and  see  wilh  my  own 
eyes  how  affairs  stand  there,  before  the  two  sec 
tions  come  to  open  rupture.  Mr.  Seward,  the 
other  day,  in  talking  of  the  South,  described 
them  as  being  in  every  respect  behind  the  age, 
with  fashions,  habits,  level  of  thought,  and  modes 
of  life,  belonging  to  the  worst  part  of  the  last 
century.  But  still  he  never  has  been  there  him 
self!  The  Southern  men  come  up  to  the  North 
ern  cities  and  springs,  but  the  Northerner  rarely 
travels  southwards.  Indeed,  I  am  informed,  that 
if  he  were  a  well-known  Abolitionist,  it  would 
not  be  safe  for  him  to  appear  in  a  Southern  city. 
I  quite  agree  with  my  thoughtful  and  earnest 
friend,  Olmsted,  that  the  United  States  can  nev 
er  be  considered  as  a  free  country  till  a  man  can 
speak  as  freely  in  Charleston  as  he  can  in  New 
York  or  Boston. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  Riggs,  the  banker,  who  had 
an  agreeable  party  to  meet  me.  Mr.  Corcoran, 
his  former  partner,  who  was  present,  erected  at 
his  own  cost,  and  presented  to  the  city,  a  fine 
building,  to  be  used  as  an  art  gallery  and  muse 
um  ;  but  as  yet  the  arts  which  are  to  be  found 
in  Washington  are  political  and  feminine  only. 
Mr.  Corcoran  has  a  private  gallery  of  pictures, 
and  a  collection,  in  which  is  the  much-praised 
Greek  Slave  of  Hiram  Powers.  The  gentry  of 
Columbia  are  thoroughly  Virginian  in  sentiment, 
and  look  rather  south  than  north  of  the  Potomac 
for  political  results.  The  President,  I  hear  this 
evening,  is  alarmed  lest  Virginia  should  become 
hostile,  and  his  policy,  if  he  has  any,  is  tempor 
ising  and  timid.  It  is  perfectly  wonderful  to 
hear  people  using  the  word  "  Government"  at 
all,  as  applied  to  the  President  and  his  cabinet — 
a  body  which  has  no  power  "according  to  the 
Constitution"  to  save  the  country  governed  or  it 
self  from  destruction.  In  fact,  from  the  circum 
stances  under  which  the  Constitution  was  framed, 
it  was  natural  that  the  principal  point  kept  in 
view  should  be  the  exhibition  of  a  strong  front 
to  foreign  powers,  combined  with  the  least  possi 
ble  amount  of  constriction  on  the  internal  rela 
tions  of  the  different  States. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


In  the  hotel  the  roar  of  office-seekers  is  un 
abated.  Train  after  train  adds  to  their  numbers. 
They  cumber  the  passages.  The  hall  is  crowd 
ed  to  such  a  degree  that  suffocation  might  de 
scribe  the  degree  to  which  the  pressure  readies, 
were  it  not  that  tobacco-smoke  invigorates  and 
sustains  the  constitution.  As  to  the  condition 
of  the  floor  it  is  beyond  description. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

New  York  Press — Rumourg  as  to  the  Southerners — Visit  to 
the  Smithsonian  Institute — Pythons — Evening  at  Mr. 
Seward' s — Rough  draft  of  official  dispatch  to  Lord  J. 
Russell— Estimate  of  its  effect  in  Europe— The  attitude 
of  Virginia. 

April  7th. — Raining  all  day,  cold  and  wet.  I 
am  tired  and  weary  of  this  perpetual  jabber  about 
Fort  Sumter.  Men  here  who  know  nothing  at 
all  of  what  is  passing  send  letters  to  the  New 
York  papers,  which  are  eagerly  read  by  the  peo 
ple  in  Washington  as  soon  as  the  journals  reach 
the  city,  and  then  all  these  vague  surmises  are 
taken  as  gospel,  and  argued  upon  as  if  they  were 
facts.  The  "  Herald"  keeps  up  the  courage  and 
spirit  of  its  Southern  friends  by  giving  the  most 
ilorid  accounts  of  their  prospects,  and  making 
continual  attacks  on  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  Gov 
ernment;  but  the  majority  of  the  New  York  pa 
pers  are  inclined  to  resist  Secession  and  aid  the 
Government.  I  dined  with  Lord  Lyons  in  the 
evening,  and  met  Mr.  Sumner,  Mr.  Blackwell, 
the  manager  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway  of 
Canada,  his  wife,  and  the  members  of  the  Lega 
tion.  After  dinner  I  visited  M.  de  Stoeckl,  the 
Russian  Minister,  and  M.  Tassara,  the  Minister 
of  Spain,  who  had  small  receptions.  There  were 
few  Americans  present.  As  a  rule,  the  diplo 
matic  circle,  which  has,  by-the-by,  no  particular 
centre,  radii,  or  circumference,  keeps  its  mem 
bers  pretty  much  within  itself.  The  great  peo 
ple  here  are  mostly  the  representatives  of  the 
South  American  powers,  who  are  on  more  inti 
mate  relations  with  the  native  families  in  Wash 
ington  than  are  the  transatlantic  ministers. 

April  8th. — How  it  does  rain!  Last  night 
there  were  torrents  of  water  in  the  streets  liter 
ally  a  foot  deep.  It  still  runs  in  muddy  whirl 
ing  streams  through  the  channels,  and  the  rain 
is  falling  incessantly  from  a  dull  leaden  sky. 
The  air  is  warm  and  clammy.  There  are  all 
kind  of  rumours  abroad,  and  the  barbers'  shops 
shook  with  "shaves"  this  morning.  Sumter,  of 
course,  was  the  main  topic.  Some  reported  that 
the  President  had  promised  the  Southern  Com 
missioners,  through  their  friend  Mr.  Campbell, 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  not  to  use  force  in 
respect  to  Pickens  or  Sumter.  I  wrote  to  Mr. 
Seward,  to  ask  him  if  he  could  enable  me  to 
make  any  definite  statement  on  these  important 
matters.  The  Southerners  are  alarmed  at  the 
accounts- they  have  received  of  great  activity  and 
preparations  in  the  Brooklyn  and  Boston  navy 
yards,  and  declare  that  "  treachery"  is  meant. 
I  find  myself  quite  incapable  of  comprehending 
their  position.  How  can  the  United  States  Gov 
ernment  be  guilty  of  "treachery"  towards  sub 
jects  of  States  which  are  preparing  to  assert  their 
independence,  unless  that  Government  has  been 
guilty  of  falsehood  or  admitted  the  justice  of  the 
decision  to  which  the  States  had  arrived  ? 
C 


As  soon  as  I  had  finished  my  letters,  I  drove 
over  to  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  and  was  most 
kindly  received  by  Professor  Henry,  who  took 
me  through  the  library  and  museum,  and  intro 
duced  me  to  Professor  Baird,  who  is  great  in 
natural  history,  and  more  particularly  in  orni 
thology.  I  promised  the  professors  some  skins  of 
Himalayan  pheasants,  as  an  addition  to  the  col 
lection.  In  the  library  we  were  presented  to  two 
very  fine  and  lively  rock  snakes,  or  pythons,  I 
believe,  some  six  feet  long  or  more,  which  moved 
about  with  much  grace  and  agility,  putting  out 
their  forked  tongues  and  hissing  sharply  when 
seized  by  the  hand  or  menaced  with  a  stick.  I 
was  told  that  some  persons  doubted  if  serpents 
hissed ;  I  can  answer  for  it  that  rock  snakes  do 
most  audibly.  They  are  not  venomous,  but  their 
teeth  are  sharp  and  needle  like.  The  eye  is 
bright  and  glistening;  the  red  forked  tongue, 
when  protruded,  has  a  rapid  vibratory  motion, 
as  if  it  were  moved  by  the  muscles  which  pro 
duce  the  quivering  hissing  noise.  I  was  much 
interested  by  Professor  Henry's  remarks  on  the 
large  map  of  the  continent  of  North  America  in 
his  study :  he  pointed  out  the  climatic  conditions 
which  determined  the  use,  profits,  and  necessity 
of  slave  labour,  and  argued  that  the  vast  increase 
of  population  anticipated  in  the  valley  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  and  the  prophecies  of  imperial  greatness 
attached  to  it,  were  fallacious.  He  seems  to  be 
of  opinion  that  most  of  the  good  land  of  Ameri 
ca  is  already  cultivated,  and  that  the  crops  which 
it  produces .  tend  to  exhaust  it,  so  as  to  compel 
the  cultivators  eventually  to  let  it  go  to  fallow  or 
to  use  manure.  The  fact  is,  that  the  influence 
of  the  great  mountain-chain  in  the  west,  which 
intercepts  all  the  rain  on  the  Pacific  side,  causes 
an  immense  extent  of  country  between  the  east 
ern  slope  of  the  chain  and  the  Mississippi,  as 
well  as  the  district  west  of  Minnesota,  to  be  per 
fectly  dry  and  uninhabitable ;  and,  as  far  as  we 
know,  it  is  as  worthless  as  a  moor,  except  for  the 
pasturage  of  wild  cattle  and  the  like. 

On  returning  to  my  hotel,  I  found  a  note  from 
Mr.  Seward,  asking  me  to  visit  him  at  nine 
o'clock.  On  going  to  his  house,  I  was  shown  to 
the  drawing-room,  and  found  there  only  the  Sec 
retary  of  State,  his  son,  and  Mrs.  Seward.  I 
made  &  parti  carrefor  a  friendly  rubber  of  whist, 
and  Mr.  Seward,  who  was  my  partner,  talked  as 
he  played,  so  that  the  score  of  the  game  was  not 
favourable.  But  his  talk  was  very  interesting. 
"All  the  preparations  of  which  you  hear  mean 
this  only.  The  Government,  finding  the  prop 
erty  of  the  State  and  Federal  forts  neglected  and 
left  without  protection,  are  determined  to  take 
steps  to  relieve  them  from  that  neglect,  and  to 
protect  them.  But  we  are  determined  in  doing 
so  to  make  no  aggression.  The  President's  in 
augural  clearly  shadows  out  our  policy.  We 
will  not  go  beyond  it — we  have  no  intention  of 
doing  so — nor  will  we  withdraw  from  it."  After 
a  time  Mr.  Seward  put  down  his  cards,  and  told 
his  son  to  go  for  a  portfolio  which  he  would  find 
in  a  drawer  of  his  table.  Mrs.  Seward  lighted 
the  drop  light  of  the  gas,  and  on  her  husband's 
return  with  the  paper  left  the  room.  The  Sec 
retary  then  lit  his  cigar,  gave  one  to  me,  and  pro 
ceeded  to  read  slowly  and  with  marked  empha 
sis,  a  very  long,  strong,  and  able  dispatch,  which 
he  told  me  was  to  be  read  by  Mr.  Adams,  the 
American  minister  in  London,  to  Lord  John  Rus- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


sell.  It  struck  me  that  the  tone  of  the  paper 
was  hostile,  that  there  was  an  undercurrent  of 
menace  through  it,  and  that  it  contained  insinu 
ations  that  Great  Britain  would  interfere  to  split 
up  the  Republic,  if  she  could,  and  was  pleased  at 
the  prospect  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  it. 

At  all  the  stronger  passages  Mr.  Seward  raised 
his  voice,  and  made  a  pause  at  their  conclusion 
as  if  to  challenge  remark  or  approval.  At  length 
I  could  not  help  saying,  that  the  dispatch  would, 
no  doubt,  have  an  excellent  effect  when  it  came 
to  light  in  Congress,  and  that  the  Americans 
would  think  highly  of  the  writer;  but  I  ventured 
to  express  an  opinion  that  it  would  not  be  quite 
so  acceptable  to  the  Government  and  people  of 
Great  Britain.  This  Mr.  Seward,  as  an  Ameri 
can  statesman,  had  a  right  to  make  but  a  sec 
ondary  consideration.  By  affecting  to  regard 
Secession  as  a  mere  political  heresy  which  can 
be  easily  confuted,  and  by  forbidding  foreign 
countries  alluding  to  it,  Mr.  Seward  thinks  he 
can  establish  the  supremacy  of  his  own  Govern 
ment,  and  at  the  same  time  gratify  the  vanity 
of  the  people.  Even  war  with  us  may  not  be  out 
of  the  list  of  those  means  which  would  be  avail 
able  for  re-fusing  the  broken  union  into  a  mass 
once  more.  However,  the  Secretary  is  quite  con 
fident  in  what  he  calls  "re-action."  "When  the 
Southern  States,"  he  says,  "see  that  we  mean 
them  no  wrong — that  we  intend  no  violence  to 
persons,  rights,  or  things — that  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  seeks  only  to  fulfil  obligations  imposed 
on  it  in  respect  to  the  national  property,  they  will 
see  their  mistake,  and  one  after  another  they  will 
come  back  into  the  union."  Mr.  Seward  antici 
pates  this  process  will  at  once  begin,  and  that 
Secession  will  all  be  done  and  over  in  three 
months — at  least,  so  he  says.  It  was  after  mid 
night  ere  our  conversation  was  over,  much  of 
which  of  course  I  cannot  mention  in  these  pages. 

April  9th. — A  storm  of  rain,  thunder,  and 
lightning.  The  streets  are  converted  into  water 
courses.  From  the  country  we  hear  of  bridges 
washed  away  by  inundations,  and  roads  render 
ed  impassable.  Accounts  from  the  South  are 
gloomy,  but  the  turla  Remi  in  Willard's  are  as 
happy  as  ever,  at  least  as  noisy  and  as  greedy  of 
place.  By-the-by,  I  observe  that  my  prize-fight 
ing  friend  of  the  battered  nose  has  been  reward 
ed  for  his  exertions  at  last.  He  has  been  stand 
ing  drinks  all  round  till  he  is  not  able  to  stand 
himself,  and  he  has  expressed  his  determination 
never  to  forget  all  the  people  in  the  passage.  I 
dined  at  the  Legation  in  the  evening,  where  there 
was  a  small  party,  and  returned  to  the  hotel  in 
torrents  of  rain. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Dinner  at  General  Scott's— Anecdotes  of  General  Scott's 
early  life— The  startling  dispatch— Insecurity  of  the 
Capital. 

April  Wth.—  To-day  I  devoted  to  packing  up 
such  things  as  I  did  not  require,  and  sending 
them  to  New  York.  I  received  a  characteristic 
note  from  General  Scott,  asking  me  to  dine  with 
him  to-morrow,  and  apologising  for  the  short 
ness  of  his  invitation,  which  arose  from  his  only 
having  just  heard  that  I  was  about  to  leave  so 
soon  for  the  South.  The  General  is  much  ad 
mired  by  his  countrymen,  though  they  do  not 
spare  some  "amiable  weaknesses;"  but,  in  my 


mind,  he  can  only  be  accused  of  a  little  vanity, 
which  is  often  found  in  characters  of  the  high 
est  standard.  He  likes  to  display  his  reading, 
and  is  troubled  with  a  desire  to  indulge  in  fine 
writing.  Some  time  ago  he  wrote  a  long  letter 
to  the  "National  Intelligencer,"  in  which  he 
quoted  Shakspeare  and  Paley  to  prove  that  Pres 
ident  Buchanan  ought  to  have  garrisoned  the 
forts  at  Charleston  and  Fensacola,  as  he  advised 
him  to  do ;  and  he  has  been  the  victim  of  poetic 
aspirations.  The  General's  dinner  hour  was 
early;  and  when  I  arrived  at  his  modest  lodg 
ings,  which,  however,  were  in  the  house  of  a  fa 
mous  French  cook,  I  found  a  troop  of  mounted 
volunteers  of  the  district  parading  up  and  down 
the  street.  They  were  not  bad  of  their  class,  and 
the  horses,  though  light,  were  active,  hardy,  and 
spirited ;  but  the  men  put  on  their  uniforms  bad 
ly,  wore  long  hair,  their  coats  and  buttons  and 
boots  were  unbrushed,  and  the  horses'  coats  and 
accoutrements  bore  evidence  of  neglect.  The 
General,  who  wore  an  undress  blue  frock-coat, 
with  eagle-covered  brass  buttons,  and  velvet  col 
lar  and  cuffs,  was  with  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr. 
Bates,  the  Attorney-General,  and  received  me 
very  courteously.  He  was  interrupted  by  cheer 
ing  from  the  soldiers  in  the  street,  and  by  clam 
ours  for  "General  Scott."  He  moves  with  dif 
ficulty,  owing  to  a  fall  from  his  horse,  and  from 
the  pressure  of  increasing  years ;  and  he  evident 
ly  would  not  have  gone  out  if  he  could  have 
avoided  it.  But  there  is  no  privacy  for  public 
men  in  America. 

Out  the  General  went  to  them,  and  addressed 
a  few  words  to  his  audience  in  the  usual  style 
about  "  rallying  round,"  and  "  dying  gloriously," 
and  "old  flag  of  our  country,"  and  all  that  kind 
of  thing ;  after  which,  the  band  struck  up  "  Yan 
kee  Doodle."  Mr.  Seward  called  out  "  General, 
make  them  play  the  'Star-Spangled  Banner,' 
and  'Hail  Columbia.''"  And  so  I  was  treated 
to  the  strains  of  the  old  bacchanalian  chant, 
"When  Bibo,"  &c.,  which  the  Americans  have 
impressed  to  do  duty  as  a  national  air.  Then 
came  an  attempt  to  play  "  God  save  the  Queen," 
which  I  duly  appreciated  as  a  compliment ;  and 
then  followed  dinner,  which  did  credit  to  the 
cook,  and  wine,  which  was  most  excellent,  from 
France,  Spain,  and  Madeira.  The  only  addi 
tion  to  our  party  was  Major  Cullum,  aide-de 
camp  to  General  Scott,  an  United  States'  en 
gineer,  educated  at  West  Point.  The  General 
underwent  a  little  badinage  about  the  phrase  "  a 
hasty  plate  of  soup,"  which  he  used  in  one  of  his 
despatches  during  the  Mexican  War,  and  he  ap 
pealed  to  me  to  decide  whether  it  was  so  erro 
neous  or  ridiculous  as  Mr.  Seward  insisted.  I 
said  I  was  not  a  judge,  but  certainly  similar  lib 
eral  usage  of  a  well-known  figure  of  prosody 
might  be  found  to  justify  the  phrase.  The  only 
attendants  at  table  were  the  General's  English 
valet  and  a  coloured  servant ;  and  the  table  ap 
paratus  which  bore  such  good  things  was  simple 
and  unpretending.  Of  course  the  conversation 
was  of  a  general  character,  and  the  General, 
evidently  picking  out  his  words  with  great  pre 
cision,  took  the  lead  in  it,  telling  anecdotes  of 
great  length,  graced  now  and  then  with  episodes, 
and  fortified  by  such  episodes  as — "Bear  with 
me,  dear  sir,  for  a  while,  that  I  may  here  diverge 
from  the  main  current  of  my  story,  and  proceed 
to  mention  a  curious — "  &c.,  and  so  on. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


To  me  his  conversation  was  very  interesting, 
particularly  that  portion  which  referred  to  his 
part  in  the  last  war,  where  he  was  wounded  and 
taken  prisoner.  He  gave  an  account  of  the  Bat 
tle  of  Chippewa,  which  was,  he  said,  fought  on 
true  scientific  principles ;  and  in  the  ignorance 
common  to  most  Englishmen  of  reverses  to  their 
arms,  I  was  injudicious  enough,  when  the  battle 
was  at  its  height,  and  whole  masses  of  men  were 
moving  in  battalions  and  columns  over  the  table, 
to  ask  how  many  men  were  engaged.  The  Gen 
eral  made  the  most  of  his  side:  "We  had,  sir, 
twenty-one  hundred  and  seventy-five  men  in 
the  field."  He  told  us  how,  when  the  British 
men-of-war  provoked  general  indignation  in 
Virginia  by  searching  American  vessels  for  de 
serters  in  the  Chesapeake,  the  State  of  Virginia 
organised  a  volunteer  force  to  guard  the  shores, 
and,  above  all  things,  to  prevent  the  country  peo 
ple  sending  down  supplies  to  the  vessels,  in  pur 
suance  of  the  orders  of  the  Legislature  and  Gov 
ernor.  Young  Scott,  then  reading  for  the  bar, 
became  corporal  of  a  troop  of  these  patrols.  One 
night,  as  they  were  on  duty  by  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac,  they  heard  a  boat  with  muffled  oars 
coming  rapidly  down  the  river,  and  soon  saw  her 
approaching  quite  close  to  the  shore  under  cover 
of  the  trees.  When  she  was  abreast  of  the  troop 
ers,  Scott  challenged  "What  boat  is  that?" 
"It's  His  Majesty's  ship  'Leopard,'  and  what 

the  d is  that  to  you  ?     Give  way,  my  lads  ! " 

"I  at  once  called  on  him  to  surrender,"  said 
the  General,  "and  giving  the  word  to  charge, 
we  dashed  into  the  water.  Fortunately,  it  w.as 
not  deep,  and  the  midshipman  in  charge,  taken 
by  surprise  by  a  superior  force,  did  not  attempt 
to  resist  us.  We  found  the  boat  manned  by  four 
sailors,  and  filled  with  vegetables  and  other  sup 
plies,  and  took  possession  of  it ;  and  I  believe  it 
is  the  first  instance  of  a  man-of-war's  boat  being 
captured  by  cavalry.  The  Legislature  of  Vir 
ginia,  however,  did  not  approve  of  the  capture, 
and  the  officer  was  given  up  accordingly. 

"Many  years  afterwards,  when  I  visited  Eu 
rope,  I  happened  to  be  dining  at  the  hospitable 
mansion  of  Lord  Holland,  and  observed  during 
the  banquet  that  a  gentleman  at  table  was  scru 
tinising  my  countenance  in  a  manner  indicative 
of  some  special  curiosity.  Several  times,  as  my 
eye  wandered  in  his  direction,  I  perceived  that 
he  had  been  continuing  his  investigations,  and 
at  length  I  rebuked  him  by  a  continuous  glance. 
After  dinner,  this  gentleman  came  round  to  me 
and  said,  '  General  Scott,  I  hope  you  will  pardon 
my  rudeness  in  staring  at  you,  but  the  fact  is 
that  you  bear  a  most  remarkable  resemblance  to 
a  great  overgrown,  clumsy,  country  fellow  of  the 
same  name,  who  took  me  prisoner  in  my  boat 
when  I  was  a  midshipman  in  the  "  Chesapeake," 
at  the  head  of  a  body  of  mounted  men.  He  was, 
I  remember  quite  well,  Corporal  Scot.'  'That 
Corporal  Scott,  sir,  and  the  individual  who  ad 
dresses  you,  are  identical  one  with  the  other.' 
The  officer  whose  acquaintance  I  thus  so  auspi 
ciously  renewed,  was  Captain  Fox,  a  relation  of 
Lord  Holland,  and  a  post-captain  in  the  British 
navy. " 

Whilst  he  was  speaking,  a  telegraphic  dispatch 
was  brought  in,  which  the  General  perused  with 
evident  uneasiness.  He  apologised  to  me  for 
'reading  it  by  saying  the  dispatch  was  from  the 
President  on  Cabinet  business,  and  then  handed  i 


it  across  the  table  to  Mr.  Seward.    The  Secretary 
read  it,  and  became  a  little  agitated,  and  raised 
I  his  eyes  inquiringly  to  the  General's  face,  who 
I  only  shook  his  head.    Then  the  paper  was  given 
I  to  Mr.  Bates,  who  read  it,  and  gave  a  grunt,  as 
\  it  were,  of  surprise.     The  General  took  back  the 
paper,  read  it  twice  over,  and  then  folded  it  up 
'  and  put  it  in  his  pocket.      "You  had  better  not 
i  put  it  there,  General, " interposed  Mr.  Seward; 
"it  will  be  getting  lost,  or  into  some  other  hands." 
And  so  the  General  seemed  to  think,  for  he  im 
mediately  threw  it  into  the  fire,  before  which 
certain  bottles  of  claret  were  gently  mellowing. 
The  communication  was  evidently  of  a  very  un 
pleasant  character.     In  order  to  give  the  Minis- 
|  ters  opportunity  for  a  conference,  I  asked  Major 
j  Cullum  to  accompany  me  into  the  garden,  and 
j  lighted  a  cigar.    As  I  was  walking  about  in  the 
|  twilight,  I  observed  two  figures  at  the  end  of  the 
little  enclosure,  standing  as  if  in  concealment 
close  to  the  wall.    Major  Cullum  said  "  The  men 
you  see  are  sentries  I  have  thought  it  expedient 
to  place  there  for  the  protection  of  the  General. 
.The  villains  might  assassinate  him,  and  would 
do  it  in  a  moment  if  they  could.     He  would  not 
hear  of  a  guard,  nor  anything  of  the  sort,  so, 
without  his  knowing  it,  I  have  sentries  posted  all 
round  the  house  all  night."    This  was  a  curious 
state  of  things  for  the  commander  of  the  Ameri 
can  army,  in  the  midst  of  a  crowded  city,  the 
capital  of  the  free  and  enlightened  Republic,  to 
be  placed  in  !    On  our  return  to  the  sitting-room, 
the  conversation  was  continued  some  hour  or  so 
longer.     I  retired  with  Mr.  Seward  in  his  car 
riage.     As  we  were  going  up  Pennsylvania  Ave 
nue — almost  lifeless  at  that  time — I  asked  Mr. 
Seward  whether  he  felt  quite  secure  against  any 
irruption  from  Virginia,  as  it  was  reported  that 
one  Ben  McCullough,  the  famous  Texan  despe 
rado,  had  assembled  500  men  at  Richmond  for 
some  daring  enterprise :  some  said  to  carry  off 
the  President,  cabinet,  and  all.    He  replied  that, 
although  the  capital  was  almost  defenceless,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  bold  bad  men  who 
were  their  enemies  were  equally  unprepared  for 
active  measures  of  aggression. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Preparations  for  war  at  Charleston — My  own  departure 
for  the  Southern  States — Arrival  at  Baltimore— Com 
mencement  of  hostilities  at  Fort  Sumter — Bombardment 
of  the  Fort— General  feeling  as  to  North  and  South — 
Slavery — First  impressions  of  the  City  of  Baltimore — 
Departure  by  steamer. 

April  12th. — This  morning  I  received  an  in 
timation  that  the  Government  had  resolved  on 
taking  decisive  steps  which  would  lead  to  a  de 
velopment  of  events  in  the  South  and  test  the 
sincerity  of  Secession.  The  Confederate  general 
at  Charleston,  Beauregard,  has  sent  to  the  Fed 
eral  officer  in  command  at  Sumter,  Major  Ander 
son,  to  say,  that  all  communication  between  his 
garrison  and  the  city  must  cease ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  or  probably  before  it,  the  Government 
at  Washington  informed  the  Confederate  authori 
ties  that  they  intended  to  forward  supplies  to  Ma 
jor  Anderson,  peaceably  if  permitted,  but  at  all 
hazards  to  send  them.  ''The  Charleston  people  are 
manning  the  batteries  they  have  erected  against 
Sumter,  have  fired  on  a  vessel  under  the  United 


36 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


States  flag,  endeavoring  to  communicate  with  the 
fort,  and  have  called  out  and  organized  a  large 
force  in  the  islands  opposite  the  place  and  in  the 
city  of  Charleston.  t 

I  resolved  therefore  to  start  for  the  Southern 
States  to-day,  proceeding  by  Baltimore  to  Norfolk 
instead  of  going  by  Richmond,  which  was  cut  off 
by  the  floods.  Before  leaving,  I  visited  Lord 
Lyons,  Mr.  Seward,  the  French  and  Russian  Min 
isters  ;  left  cards  on  the  President,  Mrs.  Lincoln, 
General  Scott,  Mr.  Douglas,  Mr.  Sumner,  and 
others.  There  was  no  appearance  of  any  excite 
ment  in  Washington,  but  Lord  Lyons  mentioned, 
as  an  unusual  circumstance,  that  he  had  received 
no  telegraphic  communication  from  Mr.  Bunch, 
the  British  Consul  at  Charleston.  Some  ladies 
said  to  me  that  when  I  came  back  I  would  find 
some  nice  people  at  Washington,  and  that  the 
rail-splitter,  his  wife,  the  Sewards,  and  all  the  rest 
of  them,  would  be  driven  to  the  place  where  they 
ought  to  be:  "  Varina  Davis  is  a  lady,  at  all 
events,  not  like  the  other.  We  can't  put  up  with 
such  people  as  these!"  A  naval  officer  whom  I 
met,  told  me,  "  if  the  Government  are  really  gor 
ing  to  try  force  at  Charleston,  you'll  see  they'll  be 
beaten,  and  we'll  have  a  war  between  the  gentle 
men  and  the  Yankee  rowdies ;  if  they  attempt 
violence,  you  know  how  that  will  end."  The  Gov 
ernment  are  so  uneasy  that  they  have  put  soldiers 
into  the  Capitol,  and  are  preparing  it  for  defence. 

At  6  P.M.  I  drove  to  the  Baltimore  station  in 
a  storm  of  rain,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Warre,  of 
,  the  British  Legation.  In  the  train  there  was  a 
crowd  of  people,manyof  them  disappointed  place- 
hunters,  and  much  discussion  took  place  respect 
ing  the  propriety  of  giving  supplies  to  Sumter  by 
force,  the  weight  of  opinion  being  against  the 
propriety  of  such  a  step.  The  tone  in  which  the 
President  and  his  cabinet  were  spoken  of  was 
very  disrespectful.  One  big  man,  in  a  fur  coat, 
who  was  sitting  near  me,  said,  "Well,  darn  me 
if  I  wouldn't  draw  a  bead  on  Old  Abe,  Seward 
— aye,  or  General  Scott  himself,  though  I've  got 
a  perty  good  thing  out  of  them,  if  they  due  try  to 
use  their  soldiers  and  sailors  to  beat  down  States' 
Rights.  If  they  want  to  go  they've  a  right  to 
go."  To  which  many  said,  "  That's  so !  That's 
true !" 

When  we  arrived  at  Baltimore,  at  8  P.M.,  the 
streets  were  deep  in  water.  A  coachman,  see 
ing  I  was  a  stranger,  asked  me  two  dollars,  or 
8s.  4d.,  to  drive  to  the  Eutaw  House,  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  distant ;  but  I  was  not  surprised,  as  I 
had  paid  three-and-a-half  and  four  dollars  to  go 
to  dinner  and  return  to  the  'hotel  in  Washing 
ton.  On  my  arrival,  the  landlord,  no  less  a 
person  than  a  major  or  colonel,  took  me  aside, 
and  asked  me  if  I  had  heard  the  news.  "No, 
what  is  it  ?"  "  The  President  of  the  Telegraph 
Company  tells  me  he  has  received  a  message 
from  his  clerk  at  Charleston  that  the  batteries 
have  opened  fire  on  Sumter  because  the  Gov 
ernment  has  sent  down  a  fleet  to  force  in  sup 
plies."  The  news  had,  however,  spread.  The 
hall  and  bar  of  the  hotel  were  full,  and  I  was 
asked  by  many  people  whom  I  had  never  seen 
in  my  life,  what  my  opinions  were  as  to  the  au 
thenticity  of  the  rumour.  There  was  nothing 
surprising  in  the  fact  that  the  Charleston  people 
had  resented  any  attempt  to  reinforce  the  forts, 
as  I  was  aware,  from  the  language  of  the  South 
ern  Commissioners,  that  they  would  resist  any 


such  attempt  to  the  last,  and  make  it  a  casus 
and  causa  belli. 

April  14. — The  Eutaw  House  is  not  a  very 
good  specimen  of  an  American  hotel,  but  the 
landlord  does  his  best  to  make  his  guests  com 
fortable,  when  he  likes  them.  The  American 
landlord  is  a  despot  who  regulates  his  domin 
ions  by  ukases  affixed  to  the  walls,  by  certain 
state  departments  called  "offices"  and  "bars," 
and  who  generally  is  represented,  whilst  he  is 
away  on  some  military,  political,  or  commercial 
undertaking,  by  a  lieutenant ;  the  deputy  being, 
if  possible,  a  greater  man  than  the  chief.  It 
requires  so  much  capital  to  establish  a  large  ho 
tel,  that  there  is  little  fear  of  external  competi 
tion  in  the  towns.  And  Americans  are  so  gre 
garious  that  they  will  not  patronise  small  estab 
lishments. 

I  was  the  more  complimented  by  the  land 
lord's  attention  this  morning  when  he  came  to 
the  room,  and  in  much  excitement  informed  me 
the  news  of  Fort  Sumter  being  bombarded  by 
the  Charleston  batteries  was  confirmed;  "And 
now,"  said  he,  "there's  no  saying  where  it  will 
all  end." 

After  breakfast  I  was  visited  by  some  gentle 
men  of  Baltimore,  who  were  highly  delighted 
with  the  news,  and  I  learned  from  them  there 
was  a  probability  of  their  State  joining  those 
which  had  seceded.  The  whole  feeling  of  the 
landed  and  respectable  classes  is  with  the  South. 
The  dislike  to  the  Federal  Government  at  Wash 
ington  is  largely  spiced  with  personal  ridicule 
and  contempt  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Your  Mary- 
lander  is  very  tenacious  about  being  a  gentle 
man,  and  what  he  does  not  consider  gentleman 
ly  is  simply  unfit  for  anything,  far  less  for  place 
and  authority. 

The  young  draughtsman,  of  whom  I  spoke, 
turned  up  this  morning,  having  pursued  me 
from  Washington.  He  asked  me  whether  I 
would  still  let  him  accompany  me.  I  observed 
that  I  had  no  objection,  but  that  I  could  not 
permit  such  paragraphs  in  the  papers  again,  and 
suggested  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  his 
travelling  by  himself,  if  he  pleased.  He  replied 
that  his  former  connection  with  a  Black  Repub 
lican  paper  might  lead  to  his  detention  or  mo 
lestation  in  the  South,  but  that  if  he  was  allow 
ed  to  come  with  me,  no  one  would  doubt  that 
he  was  employed  by  an  Illustrated  London  pa 
per.  The  young  gentleman  will  certainly  never 
lose  anything  for  the  want  of  asking. 

At  the  black  barber's  I  was  meekly  interro 
gated  by  my  attendant  as  to  my  belief  in  the 
story  of  the  bombardment.  He  was  astonished 
to  find  a  stranger  could  think  the  event  was 
probable.  "De  gen'lmen  of  Baltimore  will  be 
quite  glad  ov  it.  But  maybe  it'l  corns  bad  after 
all."  I  discovered  my  barber  had  strong  ideas 
that  the  days  of  slavery  were  drawing  to  an  end. 
"And  what  will  take  place  then,  do  you  think?" 
' '  Wall,  sare,  'spose  coloured  men  will  be  good 
as  white  men."  That  is  it.  They  do  not  un 
derstand  what  a  vast  gulf  flows  between  them 
and  the  equality  of  position  with  the  white  race 
which  most  of  those  who  have  aspirations  im 
agine  to  be  meant  by  emancipation.  He  said 
the  town  slave-owners  were  very  severe  and 
harsh  in  demanding  larger  sums  than  the  slaves 
could  earn.  The  slaves  are  sent  out  to  do  jobs, 
to  stand  for  hire,  to  work  on  the  quays  and 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


37 


docks.  Their  earnings  go  to  the  master,  who 
punishes  them  if  they  do  not  bring  home  enough. 
Sometimes  the  master  is  content  with  a  fixed 
sum,  and  all  over  that  amount  which  the  slave 
can  get  may  be  retained,  for  his  private  pur- 
poses. 

Baltimore  looks  more  ancient  and  respectable 
than  the  towns  I  have  passed  through,  and  the 
site  on  which  it  stands  is  undulating,  so  that  the 
houses  have  not  that  flatness  and  uniformity  of 
height  which  make  the  streets  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  resemble  those  of  a  toy  city  mag 
nified.  Why  Baltimore  should  be  called  the 
"  Monumental  City"  could  not  be  divined  by  a 
stranger.  He  would  never  think  that  a  great 
town  of  250,000  inhabitants  could  derive  its 
name  from  an  obelisk  cased  in  white  marble  to 
George  Washington,  even  though  it  be  more 
than  200  feet  high,  nor  from  the  grotesque  col 
umn  called  "Battle  Monument,"  erected  to  the 
memory  of  those  who  fell  in  the  skirmish  out 
side  the  city  in  which  the  British  were  repulsed 
in  1814.  I  could  not  procure  any  guide  to  the 
city  worth  reading,  and  strolled  about  at  discre 
tion,  after  a  visit  to  the  Maryland  Club,  of  which 
I  was  made  an  honorary  member.  At  dark  I 
started  for  Norfolk,  in  the  steamer  "  Georgi- 
anna." 


CHAPTER  XL 

Scenes  on  board  an  American  steamer — The  "  Merrimac" 
—  Irish  sailors  in  America  —  Norfolk  —  A  telegram  on 
Sunday  ;  news  from  the  seat  of  war — American  "chaff" 
and  our  Jack  Tars. 

Sunday,  April  14. — A  night  of  disturbed  sleep, 
owing  to  the  ponderous  thumping  of  the  walking 
beam  close  to  my  head,  the  whizzing  of  steam, 
and  the  roaring  of  the  steam-trumpet  to  warn 
vessels  out  of  the  way — musquitoes,  too,  had  a 
good  deal  to  say  to  me  in  spite  of  my  dirty  gauze 
curtains.  Soon  after  dawn  the  vessel  ran  along 
side  the  jetty  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  I  saw  in 
distinctly  the  waterface  of  the  work  which  is  in 
some  danger  of  being  attacked,  it  is  said,  by  the 
Virginians.  There  was  no  flag  on  the  staff  above 
the  walls,  and  the  place  looked  dreary  and  deso 
late.  It  has  a  fine  bastioned  profile,  with  moat 
and  armed  lunettes — the  casemates  were  bricked 
up  or  occupied  by  glass  windows,  and  all  the 
guns  I  could  make  out  were  on  the  parapets. 
A  few  soldiers  were  lounging  on  the  jetty,  and 
after  we  had  discharged  a  tipsy  old  officer,  a  few 
negroes,  and  some  parcels,  the  steam-pipe  brayed 
— it  does  not  whistle  —  again,  and  we  proceeded 
across  the  mouth  of  the  channel  and  James' 
River  towards  Elizabeth  River,  on  which  stand 
Portsmouth  and  Gosport. 

Just  as  I  was  dressing,  the  door  opened,  and  a 
tall,  neatly  dressed  negress  came  in  and  asked 
me  for  my  ticket.  She  told  me  she  was  ticket- 
collector  for  the  boat,  and  that  she  was  a  slave. 
The  latter  intelligence  was  given  without  any  re 
luctance  or  hesitation.  On  my  way  to  the  upper 
deck  I  observed  the  bar  was  crowded  by  gentle 
men  engaged  in  consuming,  or  waiting  for,  cock 
tails  or  mint-juleps.  The  latter,  however,  could 
not  be  had  just  now  in  such  perfection  as  usual, 
owing  to  the  inferior  condition  of  the  mint.  In 
the  matter  of  drinks,  how  hospitable  the  Ameri 
cans  are !  I  was  asked  to  take  as  many  as  would 
have  rendered  me  incapable  of  drinking  again ; 
my  excuse  on  the  plea  of  inability  to  grapple 


with  cocktails  and  the  like  before  breakfast,  was 
heard  with  surprise,  and  I  was  urgently  entreat 
ed  to  abandon  so  bad  a  habit. 

A  clear,  fine  sun  rose  from  the  waters  of  the 
bay  up  into  the  purest  of  pure  blue  skies.  On 
our  right  lay  a  low  coast  fringed  with  trees,  and 
wooded  densely  with  stunted  forest,  through 
which  creeks  could  be  seen  glinting  far  through 
the  foliage.  Anxious-looking  little  wooden  light 
houses,  hard  set  to  preserve  their  equilibrium  in 
the  muddy  waters,  and  bent  at  various  angles, 
marked  the  narrow  channels  to  the  towns  and 
hamlets  on  the  banks,  the  principal  trade  and 
occupation  of  which  are  oyster  selling  and  oyster 
eating.  We  are  sailing  over  wondrous  deposits 
and  submarine  crops  of  the  much-loved  bivalve. 
Wooden  houses  painted  white  appear  on  the 
shores,  and  one  large  building  with  wings  and  a 
central  portico  surmounted  by  a  belvedere,  des 
tined  for  the  reception  of  the  United  States' 
sailors  in  sickness,  is  a  striking  object  in  the 
landscap^e. 

The  steamer  in  a  few  minutes  came  alongside 
a  dirty,  broken  down,  wooden  quay,  lined  with 
open  booths,  on  which  a  small  crowd,  mostly  of 
negroes,  had  gathered.  Behind  the  shed  there 
rose  tiled  and  shingled  roofs  of  mean  dingy 
houses,  and  we  could  catch  glimpses  of  the  line 
of  poor  streets,  narrow,  crooked,  ill-paved,  sur 
mounted  by  a  few  church-steeples,  and  the  large 
sprawling  advertisement-boards  of  the  tobacco- 
stores  and  oyster-sellers,  which  was  all  we  could 
see  of  Portsmouth  or  Gosport.  Our  vessel  was 
in  a  narrow  creek ;  at  one  side  was  the  town — 
irf  the  centre  of  the  stream  the  old  "Pennsyl 
vania,"  intended  to  be  of  120  guns,  but  never 
commissioned,  and  used  as  receiving  ship,  was 
anchored — alongside  the  wall  of  the  Navy  Yard 
below  us,  lay  the  "Merrimac,"  apparently  in  or 
dinary.  The  only  man-of-war  fit  for  sea  was  a 
curiosity  —  a  stumpy  bluff-bowed,  Dutch-built- 
looking  sloop,  called  the  "Cumberland."  Two 
or  three  smaller  vessels,  dismasted,  were  below 
the  "  Merriraac,"  and  we  could  just  see  the  build 
ing-sheds  in  which  were  one  or  two  others,  I  be 
lieve,  on  the  stocks.  A  fleet  of  oyster-boats  an 
chored,  or  in  sailless  observance  of  the  Sunday, 
dotted  the  waters.  There  was  an  ancient  and 
fishlike  smell  about  the  town  worthy  of  its  ap 
pearance  and  of  its  functions  as  a  seaport.  As 
the  vessel  came  close  alongside,  there  was  the 
usual  greeting  between  friends,  and  many  a  cry, 
"Well,  you've  heard  the  news?  The  Yankees 
out  of  Sumter !  Isn't  it  fine  ?"  There  were 
few  who  did  not  participate  in  that  sentiment, 
but  there  were  some  who  looked  black  as  night 
and  said  nothing. 

Whilst  we  were  waiting  for  the  steam  ferry 
boat,  which  plies  to  Norfolk  at  the  other  side  of 
the  creek,  to  take  us  over,  a  man-of-war-boat 
pulled  alongside,  and  the  coxswain,  a  handsome, 
fine-looking  sailor,  came  on  deck,  and,  as  I  hap 
pened  to  be  next  him,  asked  me  if  Captain  Blank 
had  come  down  with  us?  I  replied  that  I  did 
not  know,  but  that  the  captain  could  tell  him  no 
doubt.  "He?"  said  the  sailor,  pointing  with 
great  disgust  to  the  skipper  of  the  steamer, 
"Why  he  knows  nothin'  of  his  passengers,  ex 
cept  how  many  dollars  they  come  to,"  and  start 
ed  off  to  prosecute  his  inquiries  among  the  other 
passengers.  The  boat  alongside  was  clean,  and 
was  manned  by  six  as  stout  fellows  as  ever  han- 


38 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


died  an  oar.  Two  I  made  sure  of  were  English 
men,  and  when  the  coxswain  was  retiring  from 
his  fruitless  search,  I  asked  him  where  he  hailed 
from.  "The  Cove  of  Cork.  I  was  in  the  navy 
nine  years,  but  when  I  got  on  the  West  Ingy 
Station,  I  heerd  how  Uncle  Sam  treated  his  fel 
lows,  and  so  I  joined  him."  "Cut  and  run,  I 
suppose?"  "Well,  not  exactly.  I  got  away, 
sir.  Emigrated,  you  know!"  "Are  there  any 
other  Irishmen  or  Englishmen  on  board  ?"  "I 
should  think  there  was.  That  man  in  the  bow 
there  is  a  mate  of  mine,  from  the  sweet  Cove  of 
Cork,  Driscoll  by  name ;  and  there's  a  Belfast 
man  pulls  number  two ;  and  the  stroke,  and  the 
chap  that  pulls  next  to  him  is  Englishmen,  and 
fine  sailors  they  are,  Bates  and  Rookey.  They 
were  in  men-of-war  too."  "What !  five  out  of 
seven,  British  subjects  !"  "  Oh,  aye,  that  is — we 
onst  was — most  of  us  now  are  'Mericans,  I  think. 
There's  plenty  more  of  us  aboard  the  ship." 

The  steam  ferry  was  a  ricketty  affair,  and 
combined  with  the  tumble-down  sheds  afld  quays 
to  give  a  poor  idea  of  ^Norfolk.  The  infliction 
of  tobacco-juice  on  board~was~remarkable.  Al 
though  it  was  but  seven  o'clock  every  one  had 
his  quid  in  working  order,  and  the  air  was  filled 
with  yellowish-brown  rainbows  and  liquid  para 
bolas,  which  tumbled  in  spray  or  in  little  flocks 
of  the  weed  on  the  foul  decks.  As  it  was  Sun 
day,  some  of  the  numerous  flagstaff's  which  adorn 
the  houses  in  both  cities  displayed  the  United 
States'  bunting  ;  but  nothing  could  relieve  the 
decayed  air  of  Norfolk.  The  omnibus  which  was 
waiting  to  receive  us  must  have  been  the  earliest 
specimen  of  carriage  building  in  that  style  on  the 
Continent ;  and  as  it  lunged  and  flopped  over 
the  prodigious  bad  pavement,  the  severe  nature 
of  which  was  aggravated  by  a  street  railway,  it 
opened  the  seams  as  if  it  were  going  to  fall  into 
firewood.  The  shops  were  all  closed,  of  course ; 
but  the  houses,  wooden  and  brick,  were  covered 
with  signs  and  placards  indicative  of  large  trade 
in  tobacco  and  oysters. 

Poor  G.  P.  R..  James,  who  spent  many  years 
here,  could  have  scarce  caught  a  novel  from 
such  a  place,  spite  of  great  oysters,  famous  wild 
fowl,  and  the  lauded  poultry  and  vegetables 
which  are  produced  in  the  surrounding  districts. 
There  is  not  a  hill  for  the  traveller  to  ascend  to 
wards  the  close  of  a  summer's  day,  nor  a  moated 
castle  for  a  thousand  miles  around.  An  execra 
ble,  tooth-cracking  drive  ended  at  last  in  front 
of  the  Atlantic  Hotel,  where  I  was  doomed  to 
take  up  my  quarters.  It  is  a  dilapidated,  un 
cleanly  place,  with  tobacco-stained  floor,  full  of 
flies  and  strong  odours.  The  waiters  were  all 
slaves :  untidy,  slip-shod,  and  careless  creatures. 
I  was  shut  up  in  a  small  room,  with  the  usual 
notice  on  the  door,  that  the  proprietor  would  not 
be  responsible  for  anything,  and  that  you  were 
to  lock  your  doors  for  fear  of  robbers,  and  that 
you  must  take  your  meals  at  certain  hours,  and 
other  matters  of  the  kind.  My  umbra  went  over 
to  Gosport  to  take  some  sketches,  he  said ;  and 
after  a  poor  meal,  in  a  long  room  filled  with 
"citizens,"  all  of  them  discussing  Sumter,  I 
went  out  into  the  street. 

The  people,  I  observe,  are  of  a  new  and 
marked  type, — very  tall,  loosely  yet  powerfully 
made,  with  dark  complexions,  "strongly-marked 
features,  prominent  noses,  large  angular  mouths 
in  square  jaws,  deep-seated  bright  eyes,  low,  nar 


row  foreheads, — and  are  all  of  them  much  given 
to  ruminate  tobacco.  The  bells  of  the  churches 
were  tolling,  and  I  turned  into  one ;  but  the 
heat,  great  enough  outside,  soon  became  nearly 
intolerable  ;  nor  was  it  rendered  more'  bearable 
by  my  proximity  to  some  blacks,  who  were,  I 
presume,  servants  or  slaves  of  the  great  people 
in  the  forward  pews.  The  clergyman  or  minis 
ter  had  got  to  the  Psalms,  when  a  bustle  arose 
near  the  door  which  attracted  his  attention,  and 
caused  all  to  turn  round.  Several  persons  were 
standing  up  and  whispering,  whilst  others  were 
stealing  on  tiptoe  out  of  the  church.  The  influ 
ence  extended  itself  gradually,  and  all  the  men 
near  the  doors  were  leaving  rapidly.  The  min 
ister,  obviously  interested,  continued  to  read, 
raising  his  eyes  towards  the  door.  At  last  the 
persons  near  him  rose  up  and  walked  boldly 
forth,  and  1  at  length  followed  the  example,  and 
getting  into  the  street,  saw  men  running  towards 
the  hotel.  "What  is  it?"  exclaimed  I  to  one. 
"Come  along,  the  telegraph's  in  at  the  Day 
Book.  The  Yankees  are  whipped  !"  and  so  con 
tinued.  I  came  at  last  to  a  crowd  of  men,  strug 
gling,  with  their  faces  toward  the  wall  of  a  shab- 
bv  house,  increased  by  fresh  arrivals,  and  dimin 
ished  by  those  who,  having  satisfied  their  curios 
ity,  came  elbowing  forth  in  a  state  of  much  ex 
citement,  exultation,  and  perspiration.  "It's 
all  right  enough!"  "Didn't  I  tell  you  so?" 
"  Bully  for  Beauregard  and  the  Palmetto  State  ?" 
I  shoved  on,  and  read  at  last  the  programme  of 
the  cannonade  and  bombardment,  and  of  the  ef 
fects  upon  the  fort,  on  a  dirty  piece  of  yellowish 
paper  on  the  wall.  It  was  a  terrible  writing. 
At  all  the  street  corners  men  were  discussing  the 
news  with  every  symptom  of  joy  and  gratifica 
tion.  Kow  I  confess  I  could  not  share  in  the 
excitement  at  all.  The  act  seemed  to  me  the 
prelude  to  certain  war. 

I  walked  up  the  main  street,  and  turned  up 
some  of  the  alleys  to  have  a  look  at  the  town, 
coming  out  on  patches  of  water  and  bridges  over 
the  creeks,  or  sandy  lanes  shaded  by  trees,  and 
lined  here  and  there  by  pretty  wooden  villas, 
painted  in  bright  colours.  Everywhere  negroes, 
male  and  female,  gaudily  dressed  or  in  rags ; 
the  door-steps  of  the  narrow  lanes  swarming 
with  infant  niggerdom — big-stomached,  curve- 
legged,  rugged-headed,  and  happy  —  tumbling 
about  dim-eyed  toothless  hags,  or  thick-lipped 
mothers.  Not  a  word  were  they  talking  about 
Sumter.  "Any  news  to-day?"  said  I  to  a  re 
spectable-looking  negro  in  a  blue  coat  and  brass 
buttons,  wonderful  hat,  and  vest  of  amber  silk, 
check  trowsers,  and  very  broken-down  shoes. 
"Well,  sare,  I  tink  nothin'  much  occur.  Der 
hem  a  fire  at  Squire  Nichol's  house  last  night; 
Icastway  so  I  hear,  sare."  Squire,  let  me  say 
parenthetically,  is  used  to  designate  justices  of 
the  peace.  Was  it  a  very  stupid  poco-curante, 
or  a  very  cunning,  subtle  Sambo  ? 

In  my  walk  I  arrived  at  a  small  pier,  covered 
with  oyster-shells,  which  projected*  into  the  sea. 
Around  it,  on  both  sides,  were  hosts  of  schooners 
and  pungys,  smaller  half-decked  boats,  waiting 
for  their  load  of  the  much-loved  fish  for  Wash 
ington,  Baltimore,  and  Richmond.  Some  brigs 
and  large  vessels  lay  alongside  the  wharves  and 
large  warehouses  higher  up  the  creek.  Observ 
ing  a  small  group  at  the  end  of  the  pier  I  walk 
ed  on,  and  found  that  they  consisted  of  fifteen  or 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


twenty  well-dressed  mechanical  kind  of  men, 
Busily  engaged  in  "  chaffing, "  as  Cockneys  would 
call  it,  the  crew  of  the  man-of-war  boat  I  had 
seen  in  the  morning.  The  sailors  were  stretched 
on  the  thwarts,  some  rather  amused,  others  sul 
len  at  the  ordeal.  "You  better  just  pull  down 
that  cussed  old  rag  of  yours,  and  bring  your  old 
ship  over  to  the  Southern  Confederacy.  I  guess 
we  can  take  your  '  Cumberland'  whenever  we 
like  !  Why  don't  you  go,  and  touch  off  your 
guns  at  Charleston?"  Presently  the  coxswain 
came  down  with  a  parcel  under  his  arm,  and 
stepped  into  the  boat.  "Give  way,  my  lads;" 
and  the  oars  dipped  in  the  water.  When  the 
boat  had  gone  a  few  yards  from  the  shore,  the 
crowd  cried  out :  "  Down  with  the  Yankees  ! 
Hurrah  for  the  Southern  Confederacy !"  and 
some  among  them  threw  oyster-shells  at  the 
boat,  one  of  which  struck  the  coxswain  on  the 
head.  "Backwater!  Back  water  all.  Hard!" 
he  shouted ;  and  as  the  boat's  stern  neared  the 
land,  he  stood  up  and  made  a  leap  in  among  the 

crowd  like  a  tiger.      "  You  cowardly  d d  set. 

Who  threw  the  shells  ?"  No  one  answered  at 
first,  but  a  little  wizened  man  at  last  squeaked 
out :  "I  guess  you'll  have  shells  of  another  kind 
if  you  remain  here  much  longer."  The  sailor 
howled  with  rage:  "Why,  you  poor  devils,  I'd 
whip  any  half  dozen  of  you, — teeth,  knives,  and 
all — in  five  minutes  ;  and  my  boys  there  in  the 
boat  would  clear  your  whole  town.  What  do 
you  mean  by  barking  at  the  Stars  and  Stripes  ? 
Do  you  see  that  ship?"  he  shouted,  pointing  to 
wards  the  "Cumberland."  "Why  the  lads 
aboard  of  her  would  knock  every  darned  seceder 
in  your  State  into  a  cocked  hat  in  a  brace  of 
shakes  !  And  now  who's  coining  on?"  The  in 
vitation  was  not  accepted,  and  the  sailor  with 
drew,  with  his  angry  eyes  fixed  on  the  people, 
who  gave  him  a  kind  of  groan  ;  but  there  were 
no  oyster  shells  this  time.  "In  spite  of  his 
blowing,  I  tell  ycr,"  said  one  of  them,  "there's 
some  good  men  from  old  Virginny  abo'rd  o'  that 
ship  that  will  never  fire  a  shot  agin  us."  "  Oh, 
we'll  fix  her  right  enough, "  remarked  another, 
"when  the  time  comes."  I  returned  to  my 
room,  sat  down,  and  wrote  for  some  hours.  The 
dinner  in  the  Atlantic  Hotel  was  of  a  description 
to  make  one  wish  the  desire  for  food  had  never 
been  invented.  My  neighbour  said  he  was  not 
"  quite  content  about  this  Sumter  business. 
There's  nary  one  killed  nor' wounded." 

Sunday  is  a  very  dull  day  in  Norfolk — no 
mails,  no  post,  no  steamers ;  and,  at  the  best, 
Norfolk  must  be  dull  exceedingly.  The  super 
intendent  of  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke  Railway, 
having  heard  that  I  was  about  proceeding  to 
Charleston,  called  upon  me  to  offer  every  facili 
ty  in  his  power.  Sent  Moses  with  letters  to  post- 
office.  At  night  the  musquitoes  were  very  ag 
gressive  and  successful.  This  is  the  first  place 
in  which  the  bedrooms  are  unprovided  with  gas. 
A  mutton  dip  almost  made  me  regret  the  fact. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Portsmouth — Railway  journey  through  the  forest — The 
great  Dismal  Swamp — American  newspapers — Cattle 
on  the  line — Negro  labour — On  through  the  Pine  Forest 
— The  Confederate  flag— Goldshorough  ;  popular  excite 
ment — Weldon — Wilmington— The  Vigilance  Commit 
tee. 

Monday,  April  15. — Up  at  dawn.    Crossed  by 


ferry  to  Portsmouth,  and  arrived  at  railway  sta 
tion,  which  was  at  no  place  in  particular,  in  a 
street  down  which  the  rails  were  laid.  Mr.  Rob 
inson,  the  superintendent,  gave  me  permission  to 
take  a  seat  in  the  engine  car,  to  which  I  mount 
ed  accordingly,  was  duly  introduced  to,  and  shook 
hands  with  the  engineer  and  the  stoker,  and  took 
my  seat  next  the  boiler.  Can  any  solid  reason 
be  given  why  we  should  not  have  those  engine 
sheds  or  cars  in  England  ?  They  consist  of  a 
light  frame,  placed  on  the  connection  of  the  en 
gine  with  the  tender,  and  projecting  so  as  to  in 
clude  the  end  of  the  boiler  and  the  stoke-hole. 
They  protect  the  engineer  from  rain,  storm,  sun, 
or  dust.  Windows  at  each  side  afford  a  clear 
view  in  all  directions,  and  the  engineer  can  step 
out  on  the  engine  itself  by  the  doors  on  the  front 
part  of  the  shed.  There  is  just  room  for  four 
persons  to  sit  uncomfortably,  the  persons  next 
the  boiler  being  continually  in  dread  of  roasting 
their  legs  at  the  furnace,  and  those  next  the  ten 
der  being  in  danger  of  getting  logs  of  wood  from 
it  shaken  down  on  their  feet.  Nevertheless  I 
rarely  enjoyed  anything  more  than  that  trip.  It 
is  true  one's  enjoyment  was  marred  by  want  of 
breakfast,  for  I  could  not  manage  the  cake  of 
dough  and  the  cup  of  bitter,  sour,  greasy  nasti- 
ness,  called  coffee,  which  were  presented  to  me 
in  lieu  of  that  meal  this  morning. 

But  the  novelty  of  the  scene  through  which  I 
passed  atoned  for  the  small  privation.  I  do  not 
speak  of  the  ragged  streets  and  lines  of  sheds 
through  which  the  train  passed,  with  the  great 
bell  of  the  engine  tolling  as  if  it  were  threaten 
ing  death  to  the  early  pigs,  cocks,  hens,  and  ne 
groes  and  dogs  which  walked  between  the  rails 
— the  latter,  by-the-bye,  were  always  the  first  to 
leave — the  negroes  generally  divided  with  the 
pigs  the  honour  of  making  the  nearest  stand  to 
the  train — nor  do  I  speak  of  the  miserable  sub 
urbs  of  wooden  shanties,  nor  of  the  expanse  of 
inundated  lands  outside  the  town.  Passing  all 
these,  we  settled  down  at  last  to  our  work :  the 
stoker  fired  up,  the  engine  rattled  along  over  the 
rugged  lane  between  the  trees  which  now  began 
to  sweep  around  us  from  the  horizon,  where  they 
rose  like  the  bank  of  a  river  or  the  shores  of  a 
sea,  and  presently  we  plunged  into  the  gloom  of 
the  primeval  forest,  struggling  as  it  were,  with 
the  last  wave  of  the  deluge. 

The  railroad,  leaving  the  land,  boldly  leaped 
into  the  air,  and  was  carried  on  frailest  cobweb- 
seeming  tracery  of  wood  far  above  black  waters, 
from  which  rose  a  thick  growth  and  upshooting 
of  black  stems  of  dead  trees,  mingled  with  the 
trunks  and  branches  of  others  still  living,  throw 
ing  out  a  most  luxuriant  vegetation.  The  tres 
tle-work  over  which  the  train  was  hung,  judged 
by  the  eye,  was  of  the  slightest  possible  construc 
tion.  Sometimes  one  series  of  trestles  was  placed 
above  another,  so  that  the  cars  ran  on  a  level 
with  the  tops  of  the  trees ;  and,  looking  down, 
we  could  see  before  the  train  passed  the  inky  sur 
face  of  the  waters,  broken  into  rings  and  agitated, 
round  the  beams  of  wood.  The  trees  were  draped 
with  long  creepers  and  shrouds  of  Spanish  moss, 
which  fell  from  branch  to  branch,  smothering 
the  leaves  in  their  clammy  embrace,  or  waving 
in  pendulous  folds  in  the  air.  Cypress,  live  oak, 
the  dogwood,  and  pine  struggled  for  life  with  the 
water,  and  about  their  stems  floated  balks  of 
timber,  waifs  and  strays  carried  from  the  rafts 


40 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


by  flood  or  the  forgotten  spoils  of  the  lumberer. 
On  these  lay  tortoises,  turtles,  and  enormous 
frogs,  which  lifted  their  heads  with  a  lazy  curi 
osity  when  the  train  rushed  by,  or  flopped  into 
the  water  as  if  the  sight  and  noise  were  too  much 
for  their  nerves.  Once  a  dark  body  of  greater 
size  plashed  into  the  current  which  marked  the 
course  of  a  river.  "There's  many  allygaitors 
come  up  here  at  times,"  said  the  engineer,  in  re 
ply  to  my  question  ;  ' '  but  I  don't  take  much  ac 
count  of  them." 

When  the  trestle-work  ceased,  the  line  was  con 
tinued  through  the  same  description  of  scenery, 
generally  in  the  midst  of  water,  on  high  embank 
ments  which  were  continually  cut  by  black  rapid 
streams,  crossed  by  bridges  on  trestles  of  great 
span.  The  strange  tract  we  are  passing  through 
is  the  "Dismal  Swamp,"  a  name  which  must 
have  but  imperfectly  expressed  its  horrors  before 
the  railway  had  traversed  its  outskirts,  and  the 
canal,  which  is  constructed  in  its  midst,  left  traces 
of  the  presence  of  man  in  that  remnant  of  the 
world's  exit  from  the  flood.  In  the  centre  of  this 
vast  desolation  there  is  a  large  loch,  called  "Lake 
Drummond,"  in  the  jungle  and  brakes  around 
which  the  runaway  slaves  of  the  plantations  long 
harboured,  and  once  or  twice  assembled  bands^ 
of  depredators,  which  were  hunted  down,  broken 
up,  and  destroyed  like  wild  beasts. 

Mr.  Robinson,  a  young  man  some  twenty-seven 
years  of  age,  was  an  excellent  representative  of 
the  young  American — full  of  intelligence,  well- 
read,  a  little  romantic  in  spite  of  his  practical 
habits  and  dealings  with  matters  of  fact,  much 
attached  to  the  literature,  if  not  to  the  people, 
of  the  old  country ;  and  so  far  satisfied  that  En 
glish  engineers  knew  something  of  their  business, 
as  to  be  anxious  to  show  that  American  engi 
neers  were  not  behind  them.  He  asked  me  about 
Washington  politics  with  as  much  interest  as  if 
he  had  never  read  a  newspaper.  I  made  a  re 
mark  to  that  effect.  "Oh,  sir,  we  can't  believe," 
exclaimed  he,  "a  word  we  read  in  our  papers. 
They  tell  a  story  one  day,  to  contradict  it  the 
next.  We  never  know  when  to  trust  them,  and 
that's  one  reason,  I  believe,  you  find  us  all  so 
anxious  to  ask  questions  and  get  information^ 
from  gentlemen  we  meet  travelling."  Of  the 
future  he  spoke  with  apprehension  ;  ' '  but, "  said 
he,  "I  arn  here  representing  the  interests  of  a 
large  number  of  Northern  shareholders,  and  I 
will  do  my  best  for  them.  If  it  comes  to  blows 
after  this,  they  will  lose  all,  and  I  must  stand  by 
my  own  friends  down  South,  though  I  don't  be 
long  to  it." 

So  we  rattle  on,  till  the  scene,  at  first  so  at 
tractive,  becomes  dreary  and  monotonous,  and  I 
tire  of  looking  out  for  larger  turtles  or  more  al 
ligators.  The  silence  of  these  woods  is  oppress 
ive.  There  is  no  sign  of  life  where  the  train 
passes  through  the  water,  except  among  the  am 
phibious  creatures.  After  a  time,  however,  when 
we  draw  out  of  the  swamp  and  get  into  a  dry 
patch,  wild,  ragged- looking  cattle  may  be  seen 
staring  at  us  through  the  trees,  or  tearing  across 
the  rail,  and  herds  of  porkers,  nearly  in  the  wild- 
boar  stage,  scuttle  over  the  open.  Then  the  en 
gineer  opens  the  valve  ;  the  sonorous  roar  of  the 
engine  echoes  through  the  woods,  and  now  and 
then  there  is  a  little  excitement  caused  by  a  race 
between  a  pig  and  the  engine,  and  a  piggy  is  oc 
casionally  whipped  off  his  legs  by  the  cow-lifter, 


and  hoisted  volatile  into  the  ditch  at  one  side. 
When  a  herd  of  cattle,  however,  get  on  the  line 
and  show  fight,  the  matter  is  serious.  The  steam 
horn  is  sounded,  the  bell  rung,  and  steam  is  eased 
off,  and  every  means  used  to  escape  collision  ;  for 
the  railway  company  is  obliged  to  pay  the  owner 
for  whatever  animals  the  trains  kill,  and  a  cow's 
body  on  one  of  these  poor  rails  is  an  impediment 
sufficient  to  throw  the  engine  off,  and  "send  us 
to  immortal  smash." 

It  was  long  before  we  saw  any  workmen  or 
guards  on  the  line  ;  but  at  one  place  I  got  out 
to  look  at  a  shanty  of  one  of  the  road  watchmen. 
It  was  a  building  of  logs,  some  20ft.  long  by 
12ft.  broad,  made  in  the  rudest  manner,  with  an 
earthen  roof,  and  mud  stuffed  and  plastered  be 
tween  the  logs  to  keep  out  the  rain.  Although 
the  day  was  exceedingly  hot,  there  were  two 
logs  blazing  on  the  hearth,  over  which  was  sus 
pended  a  pot  of  potatoes.  The  air  inside  was 
stifling,  and  the  black  beams  of  the  roof  glisten 
ed  with  a  clammy  sweat  from  smoke  and  un 
wholesome  vapours.  There  was  not  an  article 
of  furniture,  except  a  big  deal  chest  and  a  small 
stool,  in  the  place  ;  a  mug  and  a  teacup  stood  on 
i  rude  shelf  nailed  to  the  wall.  The  owner  of 
this  establishment,  a  stout  negro,  was  busily  en 
gaged  with  others  in  "wooding  up"  the  engine 
from  the  pile  of  cut  timber  by  the  roadside. 
The  necessity  of  stopping  caused  by  the  rapid 
consumption  is  one  of  the  desagrenicns  of  wood 
fuel.  The  wood  is  cut  down  and  .stacked  on 
platforms,  at  certain  intervals  along  the  line  ; 
and  the  quantity  used  is  checked  off  against  the 
company  at  the  rate  of  so  much  per  cord.  The 
negro  was  one  of  many  slaves  let  out  to  the  com 
pany.  White  men  would  not  do  the  work,  or 
were  too  expensive  ;  but  the  overseers  and  gangs 
men  were  whites.  "How  can  they  bear  that 
fire  in  the  hut?"  "  Well.  If  you  went  into  it 
in  the  very  hottest  day  in  summer,  you  would 
find  the  niggers  sitting  close  up  to  blazing  pine 
logs,  and  they  sleep  at  night,  or  by  day  when 
they've  fed  to  the  full,  in  the  same  way."  My 
friend,  nevertheless,  did  not  seem  to  understand 
that  any  country  could  get  on  without  negro  la- 


By  degrees  we  got  beyond  the  swamps,  and 
came  upon  patches  of  cleared  land  —  that  is,  the 
forest  had  been  cut  down,  and  the  only  traces 
left  of  it  were  the  stumps,  some  four  or  five  feet 
high,  "snagging"  up  above  the  ground;  or  the 
trees  had  been  girdled  round,  so  as  to  kill  them, 
and  the  black  trunks  and  stiff  arms  gave  an  air 
of  meagre  melancholy  and  desertion  to  the  place, 
which  was  quite  opposite  to  their  real  condition. 
Here  it  was  that  the  normal  forest  and  swamp 
had  been  subjugated  by  man.  Presently  we 
came  in  sight  of  a  flag  fluttering  from  a  lofty 
pine,  which  had  been  stripped  of  its  branches, 
throwing  broad  bars  of  red  and  white  to  the  air, 
with  a  blue  square  in  the  upper  quarter  contain 
ing  seven  stars.  "That's  our  flag,"  said  the 
engineer,  who  was  a  quiet  man,  much  given  to 
turning  steam  cocks,  examining  gauges,  wiping 
his  hands  in  fluffy  impromptu  handkerchiefs, 
and  smoking  tobacco  —  "That's  our  flag!  And 
long  may  it  wave  —  o'er  the  land  of  the  free  and 
the  home  of  the  ber-rave  !"  As  we  passed,  a 
small  crowd  of  men,  women,  and  children,  of  all 
colours,  in  front  of  a  group  of  poor  broken-down 
shanties  or  log  huts,  cheered—  to  speak  more  cor- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


4i 


rectly — whooped  and  yelled  vehemently.  The 
cry  was  returned  by  the  passengers  in  the  train. 
"  We're  all  right  sort  hereabouts,"  said  the  engi 
neer.  "Hurrah  for  Jeff  Davis!"  The  right 
sort  were  not  particularly  flourishing  in  outward 
aspect,  at  all  events.  The  women,  pale-faced, 
were  tawdry  and  ragged ;  the  men,  yellow,  seedy 
looking.  For  the  first  time  in  the  States,  I  no 
ticed  bare-footed  people.  N 

Now  began  another  phase  of  scenery — an  in 
terminable  pine  forest,  far  as  the  eye  could  reach, 
shutting  out  the  light  on  each  side  by  a  wooden 
wall.  From  this  forest  came  the  strongest  odour 
of  turpentine  ;  presently  black  streaks  of  smoke 
floated  out  of  the  wood,  and  here  and  there  we 
passed  clearer  spaces,  where  in  rude-looking  fur 
naces  and  factories  people  more  squalid  and  mis 
erable  looking  than  before  were  preparing  pitch, 
tar,  turpentine,  resin,  and  other  naval  stores,  for 
which  this  part  of  North  Carolina  is  famous. 
The  stems  of  the  trees  around  are  marked  by 
white  scars,  where  the  tappings  for  the  turpen 
tine  take  place,  and  many  dead  trunks  testified 
how  the  process  ended.  "' 

Again,  over  another  log  village,  a  Confederate 
flag  floated  in  the  air ;  and  the  people  ran  out, 
negroes  and  all,  and  cheered  as  before.  The 
new  flag  is  not  so  glaring  and  gaudy  as  the  Stars 
and  Stripes ;  but,  at  a  distance,  when  the  folds 
hang  together,  there  is  a  considerable  resem- 
blaHee  in  the  general  effect  of  the  two.  If  ever 
there  is  a  real  sentiment  du  drapeau  got  up  in  the 
South,  it  will  be  difficult  indeed  for  the  North  to 
restore  the  Union.  These  pieces  of  coloured 
bunting  seem  to  twine  themselves  through  heart 
and  brain. 

The  stations  along  the  roadside  now  gradual 
ly  grew  in  proportion,  and  instead  of  a  small 
sentry-box  beside  a  wood-pile,  there  were  three 
or  four  wooden  houses,  a  platform,  a  booking  of 
fice,  an  "exchange" or  drinking  room,  and  gen 
eral  stores,  like  the  shops  of  assorted  articles  in 
an  Irish  town.  Around  these  still  grew  the 
eternal  forest,  or  patches  of  cleared  land  dotted 
with  black  stumps.  These  stations  have  very 
grand  names,  and  the  stores  are  dignified  by 
high-sounding  titles;  nor  are  "billiard  saloons" 
and  "  restaurants"  wanting.  We  generally  found 
a  group  of  people  waiting  at  each  ;  and  it  really 
was  most  astonishing  to  see  well-dressed,  respect 
able-looking  men  and  women  emerge  out  of  the 
"dismal  swamp,"  and  out  of  the  depths  of  the 
forest,  with  silk  parasols  and  crinoline,  bandbox 
es  and  portmanteaux,  in  the  most  civilised  style. 
There  were  always  some  negroes,  male  and  fe 
male,  in  attendance  on  the  voyagers,  handling 
the  baggage  or  the  babies,  and  looking  comfort 
able  enough,  but  not  happy.  The  only  evidence 
of  the  good  spirits  and  happiness  of  these  people 
which  I  saw  was  on  the  part  of  a  number  of  men 
who  were  going  off  from  the  plantation  for  the 
fishing  on  the  coast.  They  and  their  wives  and 
sisters,  arrayed  in  their  best— which  means  their 
brightest,  colours  —  were  grinning  from  ear  to 
ear  as  they  bade  good-bye.  The  negro  likes  the 
mild  excitement  of  sea  fishing,  and  in  pursuit  of 
it  he  feels  for  the  moment  free. 

At  Goldsborough,  which  is  the  first  place  of 
importance  on  the  line,  the  Avave  of  the  secession 
tide  struck  us  in  full  career.  The  station,  the 
hotels,  the  street  through  which  the  rail  ran  was 
filled  with  an  excited  mob,  all  carrying  arms, 


with  signs  here  and  there  of  a  desire  to  get  up 
some  kigd  of  uniform — flushed  faces,  wild  eyes, 
screaming  mouths,  hurrahing  for  "Jeff  Davis" 
and  "the  Southern  Confederacy,"  so  that  the 
yells  overpowered  the  discordant  bands  which 
were  busy  with  "Dixie's  Land."  Here  was  the 
true  revolutionary  furor  in  full  sway.  The  men 
hectored,  swore,  cheered,  and  slapped  each  other 
on  the  backs ;  the  women,  in  their  best,  waved 
handkerchiefs  and  flung  down  garlands  from  the 
windows.  All  was  noise,  dust,  and  patriotism. 
It  was  a  strange  sight  and  a  wonderful  event 
at  which  we  were  assisting.  These  men  were  a 
levy  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  called  out 
by  the  Governor  of  the  State  for  the  purpose  of 
seizing  upon  forts  Caswell  and  Macon,  belong 
ing  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  left  unpro 
tected  and  undefended.  The  enthusiasm  of  the 
"  citizens"  was  unbounded,  nor  was  it  quite  free 
from  a  taint  of  alcohol.  Many  of  the  Volunteers 
had  flint  firelocks,  only  a  few  had  rifles.  All 
kinds  of  head-dress  were  visible,  and  caps,  belts 
nd  pouches  of  infinite  variety.  A  man  in  a 
large  wide-aAvake,  with  a  cock's  feather  in  it,  a 
blue  frockcoat,  with  a  red  sash  and  a  pair  of  cot 
ton  trowsers  thrust  into  his  boots,  came  out  of 
Griswold's  hotel  with  a  sword  under  his  arm, 
and  an  article,  which  might  have  been  a  napkin 
of  long,  service,  in  one  hand.  He  waved  the  ar 
ticle  enthusiastically,  swaying  to  and  fro  on  his 
legs,  and  ejaculating  "  H'ra  for  Jeff  Dav's — H'ra 
for  S'thern  E'r'rights!"  and  tottered  over  to  the 
carriage  through  the  crowd  amid  the  violent  vi-  • 
bration  of  all  the  ladies'  handkerchiefs  in  the 
balcony.  Just  as  he  got  into  the  train,  a  man 
in  uniform  dashed  after  him,  and  caught  him  by 
the  elbow,  exclaiming,  "  Them's  not  the  cars, 
General!  The  cars  this  AV ay,  General !"  The 
military  dignitary,  hoAvever,  felt  that  if  he  per-, 
mitted  such  liberties  in  the  hour  of  victory  he 
Avas  degraded  for  ever,  so,  screAving  up  his  lips 
and  looking  grave  and  grand,  he  proceeded  as 

folloAvs :    "Sergeant,  you   go   be  .     I  say 

these  are  my  cars !     They're  all  my  cars !     I'll 

send  them  where  I  please — to if  I  like,  sir. 

They  shall  go  Avhere  I  please  —  to  NCAV  York, 
sir,  or  NBAV  Orleans,  sir !  And sir,  I'll  ar 
rest  you."  This  famous  idea  distracted  the  Gen 
eral's  attention  from  his  project  of  entering  the 
train,  and  muttering,  "I'll  arrest  you,"  he  tack 
ed  backwards  and  forwards  to  the  hotel  again. 

As  the  train  started  on  its  journey,  there  was 
reneAved  yelling,  Avhich  split  the  ear — a  savage 
cry  many  notes  higher  than  the  most  ringing 
cheer.     At  the  wayside  inn,  where  we  dined — 
piece  de  resistance  being  pig — the  attendants, 
comely,  well-dressed,  clean  negresses,  \vere  slaves 
— "Avorth  a  thousand  dollars  each."     I  am  not 
favourably  impressed  by  either  the  food  or  the 
mode  of  living,  or  the  manners  of  the  company. 
One  man  made  very  coarse  jokes  about  "Abe    j 
Lincoln"  and  "negro  wenches,"  which  nothing   j 
but  extreme  party  passion  and  bad  taste  could   ! 
tolerate.     Several  of  the  passengers  had  been" 
clerks  in  GoArernment  offices  at  Washington,  and 
had  been  dismissed  because  they  would  not  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance.    They  Avere  hurrying  off 
full  of  zeal  and  patriotism  to  tender  their  serv 
ices  to  the  Montgomery  Government. 

***** 

I  had  been  the  object  of  many  attentions  and 
civilities  from  gentlemen  in  the  train  during  my 


42 


MY  DIARY  NOKTH  AND  SOUTH. 


journey.  One  of  them,  who  told  me  he  was  a 
municipal  dignitary  of  Weldon,  having  ^xhaust- 
ed  all  the  inducements  that  he  could  think  of  to 
induce  me  to  spend  some  time  there,  at  last,  in 
desperation,  said  he  would  be  happy  to  show  me 
"  the  antiquities  of  the  place."  Weldon  is  a  re 
cent  uprising  in  wood  and  log  houses  from  the 
swamps,  and  it  would  puzzle  the  archaeologists 
of  the  world  to  find  anything  antique  about  it. 

At  nightfall  the  train  stopped  at  Wilmington, 
and  I  was  shot  out  on  a  platform  under  a  shed, 
to  do  the  best  I  could.  In  a  long,  lofty,  and 
comfortless  room,  like  a  barn,  which  abutted  on 
the  platform,  there  was  a  table  covered  with  a 
dirty  cloth,  on  which  lay  little  dishes  of  pickles, 
fish,  meat,  and  potatoes,  at  which  were  seated 
some  of  our  fellow-passengers.  The  equality  of 
all  men  is  painfully  illustrated  when  your  neigh 
bour  at  table  eats  with  his  knife,  dips  the  end  of 
it  into  the  salt,  and  disregards  the  object  and  end 
of  napkins.  But  it  is  carried  to  a  more  disa 
greeable  extent  when  it  is  held  to  mean  that  any 
man  who  comes  to  an  inn  has  a  right  to  share 
your  bed.  I  asked  for  a  room,  but  I  was  told 
that  there  were  so  many  people  moving  about 
just  now  that  it  was  not  possible  to  give  me  one 
to  myself;  but  at  last  I  made  a  bargain  for  ex 
clusive  possession.  When  the  next  train  came 
in,  however,  the  woman  very  coolly  inquired 
whether  I  had  any  objection  to  allow  a  passen 
ger  to  divide  my  bed,  and  seemed  very  much  dis 
pleased  at  my  refusal ;  and  I  perceived  three 
'big-bearded  men  snoring  asleep  in  one  bed  in 
the  next  room  to  me  as  I  passed  through  the 
passage  to  the  dining-room. 

The  "artist"  Moses,  Avho  had  gone  with  my 
letter  to  the  post,  returned,  after  a  long  absence, 
pale  and  agitated.  He  said  he  had  been  pounced 
upon  by  the  Vigilance  Committee,  who  were 
rather  drunk,  and  very  inquisitive.  They  were 
haunting  the  precincts  of  the  Post-office  and 
the  railway  station,  to  detect  Lincolnites  and 
Abolitionists,  and  were  obliged  to  keep  them 
selves  wide  awake  by  frequent  visits  to  the  ad 
jacent  bars,  and  he  had  with  difficulty  dissuaded 
them  from  paying  me  a  visit.  They  cross-ex 
amined  him  respecting  my  opinion  of  secession, 
and  desired  to  have  an  audience  with  me  in  or 
der  to  give  me  any  information  which  might  be 
required.  I  cannot  say  what  reply  was  given 
to  their  questioning  ;  but  I  certainly  refused  to 
have  any  interview  with  the  Vigilance  Commit 
tee  of  Wilmington,  and  was  glad  they  did  not 
disturb  me.  Rest,  however,  there  was  little  or 
none.  I  might  have  as  well  slept  on  the  plat 
form  of  the  railway  station  outside.  Trains 
coming  in  and  going  out  shook  the  room  and 
the  bed  on  which  I  lay,  and  engines  snorted, 
puffed,  roared,  whistled,  and  rang  bells  close  to 
my  keyhole. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Sketches  round  Wilmington— Public  opinion— Approach 
to  Charleston  and  Fort  Sumter— Introduction  to  Gen 
eral  Beauregard  —  Ex-Governor  Manning  —  Conversa 
tion  on  the  chances  of  the  war — u  King  Cotton"  and 
England  —  Visit  to  Fort  Sumter  —  Market  -  place  at 
Charleston. 

EARLY  next  morning,  soon  after  dawn,  I 
crossed  the  Cape  Fear  River,  on  which  Wil 
mington  is  situated,  by  a  steam  ferry-boat.  On 


the  quay  lay  quantities  of  shot  and  shell.  ' '  How- 
came  these  here?"  I  inquired.  "They're  anti- 
abolition  pills,"  said  my  neighbour;  "they've 
been  waiting  here  for  two  months  back. 'but 
now  that  Sumter's  taken,  I  guess  they  won't  be 
wanted."  To  my  mind,  the  conclusion  was  by 
no  means  legitimate.  From  the  small  glance  I 
had  of  Wilmington,  with  its  fleet  of  schooners 
and  brigs  crowding  the  broad  and  rapid  river,  I 
should  think  it  was  a  thriving  place.  Confed 
erate  flags  waved  over  the  public  buildings,  and 
I  was  informed  that  the  Forts  had  been  seized 
without  opposition  or  difficulty.  I  can  see  i.o 
sign  here  of  the  "  affection  to  the  Union,"  which, 
according  to  Mr.  Reward,  underlies  all  "seces 
sion  proclivities." 

As  we  traversed  the  flat  and  uninteresting 
country,  through  which  the  rail  passes,  Confed 
erate  flags  and  sentiments  greeted  us  every 
where;  men  and  women  repeated  the  national 
,cry ;  at  every  station  militia  men  and  volun 
teers  were  waiting  for  the  train,  and  the  ever 
lasting  word  "  Sumter''  ran  through  all  the  con 
versation  in  the  cars. 

The  Carolinians  are  capable  of  turning  out  a 
fair  force  of  cavalry.  At  each  stopping-place  I 
observed  saddle-horses  tethered  under  the  trees, 
and  light  driving  vehicles,  drawn  by  wiry  mus 
cular  animals,  not  remarkable  for  size,  but 
strong-looking  and  active.  Some  farmers  in 
bluejackets,  and  yellow  braid  and  facings,  hand 
ed  round  their  swords  to  be  admired  by  the  com 
pany.  A  few  blades  had  flashed  in  obscure 
Mexican  skirmishes  —  one,  however,  had  been 
borne  against  "the  Britishers."  I  inquired  of 
a  fine,  tall,  fair-haired  young  fellow  whom  they 
expected  to  fight.  "That's  more  than  I  can 
tell,"  quoth  he.  "The  Yankees  ain't  such 
cussed  fo'ols  as  to  think  they  can  come  here  and 
whip  us,  let  alone  the  British."  "Why,  what 
have  the  British  got  to  do  with  it?"  "They 
are  bound  to  take  our  part :  if  they  don't,  we'll 
just  give  them  a  hint  about  cotton,  and  that  will 
set  matters  right."  This  was  said  very  much 
with  the  air  of  a  man  who  knows  what  he  is 
talking  about,  and  who  was  quite  satisfied  "he 
had  you  there."  I  found  it  was  still  displeasing 
to  most  people,  particularly  one  or  two  of  the 
fair  sex,  that  more  Yankees  were  not  killed  at 
Sumter.  All  the  people  who  addressed  me  pre 
fixed  my  name,  which  they  soon  found  out,  by 
"Major"  or  "Colonel" — "Captain"  is  very 
low,  almost  indicative  of  contempt.  The  con 
ductor  who  took  our  tickets  was  called  ' '  Cap 
tain." 

At  the  Peedee  river  the  rail  is  carried  over 
marsh  and  stream  on  trestle  work  for  two  miles. 
"This  is  the  kind  of  country  we'll  catch  the 
Yankees  in,  if  they  come  to  invade  us.  They'll 
have  some  pretty  tall  swimming,  and  get  knock 
ed  on  the  head,  if  ever  they  gets  to  land.  I 
wish  there  was  ten  thousand  of  the  cusses  in  it 
this  minute."  At  Nichol's  station  on  the  fron 
tiers  of  South  Carolina,  our  baggage  was  regu 
larly  examined  at  the  Custom  House,  but  I  did 
not  see  any  one  pay  duties.  As  the  train  ap 
proached  the  level  and  marshy  land  near  Charles 
ton,  the  square  block  of  Fort  Sumter  was  seen 
rising  above  the  water  with  the  "stars  and  bars" 
flying  over  it,  and  the  spectacle  created  great 
enthusiasm  among  the  passengers.  The  smoke 
was  still  rising  from  an  angle  of  the  walls.  Out- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


side  the  village-like  suburbs  of  the  city  a  regi 
ment  was  marching  for  old  Virginny  amid  the 
cheers  of  the  people — cavalry  were  picketed  in 
the  fields  and  gardens— tents  and  men  were  vis 
ible  in  the  byways. 

It  was  nearly  dark  when  we  reached  the  sta 
tion.  I  was  recommended  to  go  to  the  Mills 
House,  and  on  arriving  there  found  Mr.  Ward, 
whom  I  had  already  met  in  New  York  and 
Washington,  and  who  gave  me  an  account  of 
the  bombardment  and  surrender  of  the  fort. 
The  hotel  was  full  of  notabilities.  I  was  intro 
duced  to  ex-Governor  Manning,  Senator  Ches- 
nut,  Hon.  Forcher  Miles,  on  the  staff  of  General 
Beauregard,  and  to  Colonel  Lucas,  aide-de-camp 
to  Governor  Fickens.  I  was  taken  after  dinner 
and  introduced  to  General  Beauregard,  who  was 
engaged,  late  as  it  was,  in  his  room  at  the  Head 
Quarters  writing  despatches.  The  General  is 
a  small,  compact  man,  about  thirty-six  years  of 
age,  with  a  quick  and  intelligent  eye  and  ac 
tion,  and  a  good  deal  of  the  Frenchman  in  his 
manner  and  look.  He  received  me  in  the  most 
cordial  manner,  and  introduced  me  to  his  en 
gineer  officer,  Major  Whiting,  whom  he  assigned 
to  lead  me  over  the  works  next  day. 

After  some  general  conversation  I  took  my 
leave ;  but  before  I  went,  the  General  said, 
"You  shall  go  everywhere  and  see  everything; 
we  rely  on.  your  discretion,  and  knowledge  of 
what  is  fair  in  dealing  with  what  you  see.  Of 
course  you  don't  expect  to  find  regular  soldiers 
in  our  camps  or  very  scientific  works."  I  an 
swered  the  General,  that  he  might  rely  on  my 
making  no  improper  use  of  what  I  saw  in  this 
country,  but,  "  unless  you  tell  me  to  the  contra 
ry,  I  shall  write  an  account  of  all  I  see  to  the 
other  side  of  the  water,  and  if,  when  it  comes 
back,  there  are  things  you  would  rather  not  have 
known,  you  must  not  blame  me."  He  smiled, 
and  said,  "I  dare  say  we'll  have  great  changes 
by  that  time." 

That  night  I  sat  in  the  Charleston  club  with 
John  Manning.  Who  that  has  ever  met  him 
can  be  indifferent  to  the  charms  of  manner  and 
of  personal  appearance,  which  render  the  ex- 
Governor  of  the  State  so  attractive?  There 
were  others  present,  senators  or  congressmen, 
like  Mr.  Chesnut,  and  Mr.  Forcher  Miles.  We 
talked  long,  and  at  last  angrily,  as  might  be  be 
tween  friends,  of  political  affairs. 

I  own  it  was  a  little  irritating  to  me  to  hear 
men  indulge  in  extravagant  broad  menace  and 
rhodomontade,  such  as  came  from  their  lips. 
"They  would  welcome  the  world  in  arms  with 
hospitable  hands  to  bloody  graves."  "They 
never  could  be  conquered."  "Creation  could 
not  do  it,"  and  so  on.  I  was  obliged  to  handle 
the  question  quietly  at  first— to  ask  them  "if 
they  admitted  the  French  were  a  brave  and  war 
like  people?"  "Yes,  certainly."  "Do  you  think 
you  could  better  defend  yourselves  against  inva 
sion  than  the  people  of  France?"  "Well,  no; 
but  we'd  make  it  a  pretty  hard  business  for  the 
Yankees."  "^  Suppose  the  Yankees,  as  you  call 
them,  come  with  such  preponderance  of  men  and 
materiel,  that  they  are  three  to  your  one,  will  you 
not  be  forced  to- submit ?rf  "Never."  "Then 
either  you  are  braver,  better  disciplined,  more 
warlike  than  the  people  and  soldiers  of  France, 
or  you  alone,  of  all  the  nations  in  the  world, 
possess  the  means  of  resisting  physical  laws 


which  prevail  in  war,  as  in  other  affairs  of  life." 
"No.  The  Yankees  are  cowardly  rascals.  We 
have  proved  it  by  kicking  and  cuffing  them  till 
we  are  tired  of  it ;  besides,  we  know  John  Bull 
very  well.  He  will  make  a  great  fuss  about 
non-interference  at  first,  but  when  he  begins  to 
want  cotton  he'll  come  oft'  his  perch. "^  1  found  \ 
this  was  the  fixed  idea  everywhere.  £The  doc-  J 
trine  of  "cotton  is  king," — to  us  who  have  not/ 
much  considered  the  question  a  grievous  delu 
sion  or  an  unmeaning  babble — to  them  is  a  live 
ly  all-powerful  faith  without  distracting  heresies 
or  schisms7  They  have  in  it  enunciated  their 
full  belief,  and  indeed  there  is  some  truth  in  it, 
in  so  far  as  we  year  after  year,  by  the  stimulants 
of  coal,  capital,  and  machinery,  have  been  work 
ing  up  a  manufacture  on  which  four  or  five  mil 
lions  of  our  population  depend  for  bread  and  life, 
which  cannot  be  carried  on  without  the  assist 
ance  of  a  nation,  that  may  at  any  time  refuse  us 
an  adequate  supply,  or  be  cut  off  from  giving  it 
by  war. 

Political  economy,  we  are  well  aware,  is  a  fine 
science,  but  its  followers  are  capable  of  tremen 
dous  absurdities  in  practice.  The  dependence 
of  such  a  large  proportion  of  the  English  people 
on  this  sole  article  of  American  cotton  is  fraught 
with  the  utmost  danger  to  our  honour  and  to  our 
prosperity.  Here  were  these  Southern  gentle 
men  exulting  in  their  power  to  control  the  policy 
of  Great  Britain,  and  it  was  small  consolation  to 
me  to  assure  them  they  were  mistaken ;  in  case 
we  did  not  act  as  they  anticipated,  it  could  not 
be  denied  Great  Britain  would  plunge  an  im 
mense  proportion  of  her  people — a  nation  of 
manufacturers  —  into  pauperism,  which  must 
leave  them  dependent  on  the  national  funds,  or 
more  properly  on  the  property  and  accumulated 
capital  of  the  district. 

About  8.30  P.M.,  a  deep  bell  began  to  toll. 
"What  is  that?"  "It's  for  all  the  coloured 
people  to  clear  out  of  the  streets  and  go  home. 
The  guards  will  arrest  any  who  are  found  out 
without  passes  in  half  an  hour."  There  was 
much  noise  in  the  streets,  drums  beating,  men 
cheering,  and  marching,  and  the  hotel  is  cram 
med  full  with  soldiers. 

April  \lth. — The  streets  of  Charleston  present 
some  such  aspect  as  those  of  Paris  in  the  last  revo 
lution.  Crowds  of  armed  men  singing  and  prom- 
enading  the  streets.  The  battle-blood  running 
through  their  veins — that  hot  oxygen  which  is 
called  "the  flush  of  victory"  on  the  check;  res 
taurants  full,  revelling  in  bar-rooms,  club-rooms 
crowded,  orgies  and  carousings  in  tavern  or  pri 
vate  house,  in  tap-room,  from  cabaret — down 
narrow  alleys,  in  the  broad  highway.  Sumter 
has  set  them  distraught;  never  was  such  a  vic 
tory  ;  never  such  brave  lads ;  never  such  a  fight. 
There  are  pamphlets  already  full  of  the  incident. 
It  is  a  bloodless  Waterloo  or  Solferino. 

After  breakfast  I  went  down  to  the  quay,  with 
a  party  of  the  General's  staff,  to  visit  Fort  Sum 
ter.  The  senators  and  governors  turned  soldiers 
wore  blue  military  caps,  with  "palmetto"  trees 
embroidered  thereon  ;  blue  frockcoats,  with  up 
right  collars,  and  shoulder-straps  edged  with  lace, 
and  marke  1  with  two  silver  bars,  to  designate 
their  rank  of  captain ;  gilt  buttons,  with  the  pal 
metto  in  relief;  blue  trowsers,  with  a  gold-lace 
cord,  and  brass  spurs — no  straps.  The  day  was 
sweltering,  but  a  strong  breeze  blew  in  the  bar- 


44 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


bour,  and  puffed  the  dust  of  Charleston,  coating 
our  clothes,  and  filling  our  eyes  with  powder. 
The  streets  were  crowded  with  lanky  lads,  clank 
ing  spurs,  and  sabres,  with  awkward  squads 
marching  to  and  fro,  with  drummers  beating 
calls,  and  ruffles,  and  points  of  war;  around 
them  groups  of  grinning  negroes  delighted  with 
the  glare  and  glitter,  a  holiday,  and  a  new  idea 
for  them — secession  flags  waving  out  of  all  the 
windows — little  Irish  boys  shouting  out,  "Battle 
of  Fort  Sumter !  New  edishun !" — As  we  walked 
towards  the  quay,  where  the  steamer  was  lying, 
numerous  traces  of  the  unsettled  state  of  men's 
minds  broke  out  in  the  hurried  conversations  of 
the  various  friends  who  stopped  to  speak  for  a 
few  moments.  "Well,  governor,  the  old  Union 
is  gone  at  last!"  "Have  you  heard  what  Abe 
is  going  to  do?"  "I  don't  think  Beauregard 
will  have  much  more  fighting  for  it.  What  do 
you  think  ?"  And  so  on.  Our  little  Creole 
friend,  by  the  bye,  is  popular  beyond  description. 
There  are  all  kinds  of  doggerel  rhymes  in  his 
honour — one  with  a  refrain — 

"With  cannon  and  musket,  with  shell  and  petard, 
We  salute  the  North  with  our  Beau-regard" — 

is  much  in  favour. 

We  passed  through  the  market,  where  the 
stalls  are  kept  by  fat  negresses  and  old  "  unkeys." 
There  is  a  sort  of  vulture  or  buzzard  here,  much 
encouraged  as  scavengers,  and — but  all  the  world 
has  heard  of  the  Charleston  vultures — so  we  will 
leave  them  to  their  garbage.  Near  the  quay, 
where  the  steamer  was  lying,  there  is  a  very  fine 
building  in  white  marble,  which  attracted  our 
notice.  It  was  unfinished,  and  immense  blocks 
of  the  glistening  stone  destined  for  its  comple 
tion  lay  on  the  ground.  "  What  is  that?"  I  in 
quired.  "Why,  it's  a  custom-house  Uncle  Sam 
was  building  for  our  benefit,  but  I  don't  think 
he'll  ever  raise  a  cent  for  his  treasury  out  of  it." 
"Will  you  complete  it?"  "I  should  think  not. 
We'll  lay  on  few  duties;  and  what  we  want  is 
free-trade,  and  no  duties  at  all,  except  for  public 
purposes.  The  Yankees  have  plundered  us  with 
their  custom-houses  and  duties  long  enough." 
An  old  gentleman  here  stopped  us.  "You  will 
do  me  the  greatest  favour,"  he  said  to  one  of  our 
party  who  knew  him,  "if  you  will  get  me  some 
thing  to  do  for  our  glorious  cause.  Old  as  I  am, 
I  can  carry  a  musket — not  far,  to  be  sure,  but  I 
can  kill  a  Yankee  if  he  comes  near."  When  he 
had  gone,  my  friend  told  me  the  speaker  was  a 
man  of  fortune,  two  of  whose  sons  were  in  camp 
-  at  Morris'  Island,  but  that  he  was  suspected  of 
Union  sentiments,  as  he  had  a  Northern  wife, 
and  hence  his  extreme  vehemence  and  devotion. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Southern  volunteers— Unpopularity  of  the  press— Charles 
ton — Fort  Sumter — Morris'  Island — Anti-union  enthu 
siasm— Anecdote  of  Colonel  Wigfall— Interior  view  of 
the  fort — North  versus  South. 

THERE  was  a  large  crowd  around  the  pier 
staring  at  the  men  in  uniform  on  the  boat, 
which  was  filled  with  bales  of  goods,  commis 
sariat  stores,  trusses  of  hay,  and  hampers,  sup 
plies  for  the  volunteer  army  on  Morris'  Island. 
I  was  amused  by  the  names  of  the  various  corps, 
"Tigers,"  "Lions,"  "Scorpions,"  "Palmetto 
Eaglos,"  "Guards,"  of  Pickens,  Sumter,  Marion, 


and  of  various  other  denominations,  painted  on 
the  boxes.  The  original  formation  of  these  vol 
unteers  is  in  companies,  and  they  know  nothing 
of  battalions  or  regiments.  The  tendency  in 
volunteer  outbursts  is  sometimes  to  gratify  the 
greatest  vanity  of  the  greatest  number.  These 
companies  do  not  muster  more  than  fifty  or  six 
ty  strong.  Some  were  "  dandies,"  and  "swells," 
and  affected  to  look  down  on  their  neighbours 
and  comrades.  Major  Whiting  told  me  there 
was  difficulty  in  getting  them  to  obey  orders  at 
first,  as  each  man  had  an  idea  that  he  was  as 
good  an  engineer  as  any  body  else,  "and  a  good 
deal  better,  if  it  came  to  that."  It  was  easy  to 
perceive  it  was  the  old  story  of  volunteer  and 
regular  in  this  little  army. 

As  we  got  on  deck,  the  major  saw  a  number 
of  rough,  long-haired-looking  fellows  in  coarse 
gray  tunics,  with  pewter  buttons  and  worsted 
braid  lying  on  the  hay-bales  smoking  their  ci 
gars.  "Gentlemen,"  quoth  he,  very  courteous 
ly,  "you'll  oblige  me  by  not  smoking  over  the 
hay.  There's  powder  below."  "I  don't  be 
lieve  we're  going  to  burn  the  hay  this  time,  ker 
nel,"  was  the  reply,  "and  anyway,  we'll  put  it 
out  afore  it  reaches  the  'bustibles,"  and  they 
went  on  smoking.  The  major  grumbled,  and 
worse,  and  dreAv  off. 

Among  the  passengers  were  some  brethren  of 
mine  belonging  to  the  New  York  and  local  pa 
pers.  I  saw  a  short  time  afterward  a  descrip 
tion  of  the  trip  by  one  of  these  gentlemen,  in 
which  he  described  it  as  an  affair  got  up  special 
ly  for  himself,  probably  in  order  to  avenge  him 
self  on  his  military  persecutors,  for  he  had  com 
plained  to  me  the  evening  before  that  the  chief 
of  General  Beauregard's  staff  told  him  to  go  to 

,  when  he  applied  to  head-quarters  for  some 

information.  I  found,  from  the  tone  and  looks 
of  my  friends,  that  these  literary  gentlemen  were 
received  with  great  disfavour,  and  Major  Whit 
ing,  who  is  a  bibliomaniac,  and  has  a  very  great 
liking  for  the  best  English  writers,  could  not 
conceal  his  repugnance  and  antipathy  to  my  un 
fortunate  confreres.  "  If  I  had  my  way,  I  would 
fling  them  into  the  water;  but  the  General  has 
given  them  orders  to  come  on  board.  It  is  these 
fellows  who  have  brought  all  this  trouble  on  our 
country." 

The  traces  of  dislike  of  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  which  I,  to  my  astonishment,  discovered 
in  the  North,  are  broader  and  deeper  in  the 
South,  and  they  are  not  accompanied  by  the 
signs  of  dread  of  its  power  which  exist  in  New 
York,  where  men  speak  of  the  chiefs  of  the  most 
notorious  journals  very  much  as  people  in  Italian 
cities  of  past  time  might  have  talked  of  the  most 
infamous  bravo  or  the  chief  of  some  band  of 
assassins.  Whiting  comforted  himself  by  the  re 
flection  that  they  would  soon  have  their  fingers 
in  a  vice,  and  then  pulling  out  a  ragged  little 
sheet,  turned  suddenly  on  the  representative 
thereof,  and  proceeded  to  give  the  most  unquali 
fied  contradiction  to  most  of  the  statements  con 
tained  in  "the  full  and  accurate  particulars  of 
the  Bombardment  and  Fall  of  Fort  Sumter,"  in 
the  said  journal,  which  the  person  in  question 
listened  to  with  becoming  meekness  and  contri 
tion.  "  If  I  knew  who  wrote  it,"  said  the  major, 
"  I'd  make  him  eat  it." 

I  was  presented  to  many  judges,  colonels,  and 
others  of  the  mass  of  society  on  board,  and,  "aft- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


45 


er  compliments,"  as  the  Orientals  say,  I  was  gen 
erally  asked,  in  the  first  place,  what  I  thought  of 
the  capture  of  Sumter,  and  in  the  second,  what 
England  would  do  when  the  news  reached  the 
other  side.  Already  the  Carolinians  regard  the 
Northern  States  as  an  alien  and  detested  enemy, 
and  entertain,  or  profess,  an  immense  affection 
for  Great  Britain. 

When  we  had  shipped  all  our  passengers,  nine- 
tenths  of  them  in  uniform,  and  a  larger  propor 
tion  engaged  in  chewing,  the  whistle  blew,  and 
the  steamer  sidled  off  from  the  quay  into  the  yel 
lowish  muddy  water  of  the  Ashley  River,  which 
is  a  creek  from  the  sea,  with  a  streamlet  running 
into  the  head  waters  some  distance  up. 

The  shore  opposite  Charleston  is  more  than  a 
mile  distant,  and  is  low  and  sandy,  covered  here 
and  there  with  brilliant  patches  of  vegetation, 
and  long  lines  of  trees.  It  is  cut  up  with  creeks, 
which  divide  it  igto  islands,  so  that  passages  out 
to  sea  exist  between  some  of  them  for  light  craft, 
though  the  navigation  is  perplexed  and  difficult. 
The  city  lies  on  a  spur  or  promontory  between 
the  Ashley  and  the  Cooper  rivers,  and  the  land 
behind  it  is  divided  in  the  same  manner  by  sim 
ilar  creeks,  and  is  sandy  and  light,  bearing,  nev 
ertheless,  very  fine  crops,  and  trees  of  magnifi 
cent  vegetation.  The  steeples,  the  domes  of  pub 
lic  buildings,  the  rows  of  massive  warehouses  and 
cotton  stores  on  the  wharfs,  and  the  bright  colours 
of  the  houses,  render  the  appearance  of  Charles 
ton,  as  seen  from  the  river  front,  rather  impos 
ing.  From  the  mastheads  of  the  few  large  ves 
sels  in  harbour  floated  the  Confederate  flag. 
Looking  to  our  right,  the  same  standard  was 
visible,  waving  on  the  low,  white  parapets  of  the 
earth-works  which  had  been  engaged  in  reducing 
Sumter. 

That  much-talked-of  fortress  lay  some  two 
miles  ahead  of  us  now,  rising  up  out  of  the  water 
near  the  middle  of  the  passage  out  to  sea  between 
James'  Island  and  Sullivan's  Island.  It  struck 
me  at  first  as  being  like  one  of  the  smaller  forts 
off'  Cronstadt,  but  a  closer  inspection  very  much 
diminished  its  importance  ;  the  material  is  brick, 
not  stone,  and  the  size  of  the  place  is  exaggera 
ted  by  the  low  back  ground,  and  by  contrast  with 
the  sea-line.  Th 3  land  contracts  on  both  sides 
opposite  the  fort,  a  projection  of  Morris'  Island, 
called  "Cumming's  Point,"  running  out  on  the 
left.  There  is  a  similar  promontory  from  Sulli 
van's"  Island,  on  which  is  erected  Fort  Moultrie, 
on  the  right  from  the  sea  entrance.  Castle  Pinck- 
ney,  which  stands  on  a  small  island  at  the  exit 
of  the  Cooper  River,  is  a  place  of  no  importance, 
and  it  was  too  far  from  Sumter  to  take  any  share 
in  the  bombardment :  the  same  remarks  apply  to 
Fort  Johnson  on  James'  Island,  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Ashley  River  below  Charleston.  The  works 
which  dul  the  mischief  were  the  batteries  of  sand 
on  Morris'  Island,  at  Cumming's  Point,  and  Fort 
Moultrie.  The  floating  battery,  covered  with 
railroad-iron,  lay  a  long  way  off,  and  could  not 
have  contributed  much  to  the  result. 

As  we  approached  Morris'  Island,  which  is  an 
accumulation  of  sand  covered  with  mounds  of 
the  same  material,  on  which  there  is  a  scanty  veg 
etation  alternating  with  salt-water  marshes,  we 
could  perceive  a  few  tents  in  the  distance  among 
the  sand-hills.  The  sand-bag  batteries,  and  an 
ugly  black  parapet,  with  guns  peering  through 
port -holes  as  if  from  a  ship's  side,  lay  before  us. 


Around  them  men  were  swarming  like  ants,  and 
a  crowd  in  uniform  were  gathered  on  the  beach 
to  receive  us  as  we  landed  from  the  boat  of  the 
steamer,  all  eager  for  news,  and  provisions,  and 
newspapers,  of  which  an  immense  flight  imme 
diately  fell  upon  them.  A  guard  with  bayonets 
crossed  in  a  very  odd  sort  of  manner,  prevented 
any  unauthorised  persons  from  landing.  They 
wore  the  universal  coarse  gray  jacket  and  trou 
sers,  with  worsted  braid  and  yellow  facings,  un 
couth  caps,  lead  buttons  stamped  with  the  pal 
metto-tree.  Their  un bronzed  firelocks  were  cov 
ered  with  rust.  The  soldiers  lounging  about  were 
mostly  tall,  well-grown  men,  young  and  old,  some 
with  the  air  of  gentlemen ;  others  coarse,  long 
haired  fellows,  without  any  semblance  of  military 
bearing,  but  full  of  fight,  and  burning  with  enthu 
siasm,  not  unaided,  in  some  instances,  by  coarser 
stimulus. 

The  day  was  exceedingly  warm  and  unpleas 
ant,  the  hot  wind  blew  the  fine  white  sand  into 
our  faces,  and  wafted  it  in  minute  clouds  inside 
eyelids,  nostrils,  and  clothing ;  but  it  was  neces 
sary  to  visit  the  batteries,  so  on  we  trudged  into 
one  and  out  of  another,  walked  up  parapets,  ex 
amined  profiles,  looked  along  guns,  and  did  ev 
erything  that  could  be  required  of  us.  The  result 
of  the  examination  was  to  establish  in  my  mind 
the  conviction,  that  if  the  commander  of  Sumter 
had  been  allowed  to  open  his  guns  on  the  island, 
the  first  time  he  saw  an  indication  of  throwing 
up  a  battery  against  him,  he  could  have  saved 
his  fort.  Moultrie,  in  its  original  state,  on  the 
opposite  side,  could  have  been  readily  demolished 
by  Sumter.  The  design  of  the  works  was  better 
than  their  execution — the  sand-bags  were  rotten, 
the  sand  not  properly  rivetted  or  banked  up,  and 
the  traverses  imperfectly  constructed.  The  bar 
bette  guns  of  the  fort  looked  into  many  of  the 
embrasures,  and  commanded  them. 

The  whole  of  the  island  was  full  of  life  and  ex 
citement.  Officers  were  galloping  about  as  if  on 
a  field-day  or  in  action.  Commissariat  carts  were 
toiling  to  and  fro  between  the  beach  and  the\ 
camps,  and  sounds  of  laughter  and  revelling  came 
from  the  tents.  These  were  pitched  without  or 
der,  and  were  of  all  shapes,  hues,  and  sizes,  many 
I  being  disfigured  by  rude  charcoal  drawings  out 
side,  and  inscriptions  such  as  "The  Live  Tigers," 
"  Rattlesnake's-hole,"  "Yankee  Smashers,"  &c. 
The  vicinity  of  the  camps  was  in  an  intolerable 
state,  and  on  calling  the  attention  of  the  medical 
officer  who  was  with  me,  to  the  danger  arising 
from  such  a  condition  of  things,  he  said  with  a 
sigh,  "I  know  it  all.  But  we  can  do  nothing. 
Remember  they're  all  volunteers,  and  do  just  as 
they  please." 

In  every  tent  was  hospitality,  and  a  hearty  wel 
come  to  all  comers.  Cases  of  champagne  and 
claret,  French  pates,  and  the  like,-  were  piled  out 
side  the  canvas  walls,  when  there  was  no  room 
for  them  inside.  In  the  middle  of  these  excited 
gatherings  I  felt  like  a  man  in  the  full  posses 
sion  of  his  senses  coming  in  late  to  a  wine  party. 
"Won't  you  drink  with  me,  sir,  to  the — (some 
thing  awful) — of  Lincoln  and  all  Yankees?" 
"  No !  if  you'll  be  good  enough  to  excuse  me." 
"  Well,  I  think  you're  the  only  Englishman  who 
won't."  Our  Carolinians  are  very  fine  fellows, 
but  a  little  given  to  the  Bobadil  style — hectoring 
after  a  cavalier  fashion,  which  they  fondly  be- 
lieve  to  be  theirs  by  hereditary  right.  They  as- 


46 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


sume  that  the  British  crown  rests  on  a  cotton 
bale,  as  the  Lord  Chancellor  sits  on  a  pack  of 
wool. 

1  In  one  long  tent  there  was  a  party  of  roystering 
young  men,  opening  claret,  and  mixing  "  cup" 
in  large  buckets ;  whilst  others  were  helping  the 
servants  to  set  out  a  table  for  a  banquet  to  one 
of  their  generals.  Such  heat,  tobacco-smoke, 
clamour,  toasts,  drinking,  hand-shaking,  vows  of 
friendship  !  Many  were  the  excuses  made  for  the 
more  demonstrative  of  the  Edonian  youths  by 
their  friends.  "  Tom  is  a  little  cut,  sir ;  but  he's 
a  splendid  fellow — he's  worth  half  a  million  of 
dollars."  This  reference  to  a  money  standard 
of  value  was  not  unusual  or  perhaps  unnatural, 
but  it  was  made  repeatedly ;  and  I  was  told  won 
derful  tales  of  the  riches  of  men  who  were  loung 
ing  round,  di-essed  as  privates,  some  of  whom  at 
that  season,  in  years  gone  by,  were  looked  for  at 
-  the  watering-places  as  the  great  lions  of  Ameri 
can  fashion.  But  Secession  is  the  fashion  here. 
Young  ladies  sing  for  it ;  old  ladies  pray  for  it ; 
young  men  are  dying  to  fight  for  it ;  old  men  arc 
ready  to  demonstrate  it.  The  founder  of  the 
school  was  St.  Calhoun.  Here  his  pupils  carry 
out  their  teaching  in  thunder  and  fire.  States' 
Rights  are  displayed  after  its  legitimate  teaching, 
and  the  Palmetto  flag  and  the  red  bars  of  the 
,  Confederacy  are  its  exposition.  The  utter  con 
tempt  and  loathing  for  the  venerated  Stars  and 
Stripes,  the  abhorrence  of  the  very  words  United 
States,  the  intense  hatred  of  the  Yankee  on  the 
part  of  these  people,  cannot  be  conceived  by  any 
one  who  has  not  seen  them.  I  am  more  satisfied 
than  ever  that  the  Union  can  never  be  restored 
as  it  was,  and  that  it  has  gone  to  pieces,  never  to 
be  put  together  again,  in  the  old  shape,  at  all 
events  by  any  power  on  earth. 

After  a  long  and  tiresome  promenade  in  the 
dust,  heat,  and  fine  sand,  through  the  tents,  our 
party  returned  to  the  beach,  where  we  took  boat, 
and  pushed  off  for  Fort  Sumter.  The  Confed 
erate  flag  rose  above  the  walls.  On  near  ap 
proach  the  marks  of  the  shot  against  the  pain 
coupe,  and  the  embrasures  near  the  salient  were 
visible  enough ;  but  the  damage  done  to  the  hard 
brickwork  was  trifling,  except  at  the  angles:  the 
edges  of  the  parapets  were  ragged  and  pock 
marked,  and  the  quay  wall  was  rifted  here  and 
there  by  shot;  but  no  injury  of  a  kind  to  render 
the  work  untenable  could  be  made  out.  The 
greatest  damage  inflicted  was,  no  doubt,  the  burn 
ing  of  the  barracks,  which  were  culpably  erected 
inside  the  fort,  close  to  the  flank  wall  facing 
Cumming's  Point. 

As  the  boat  toucHed  the  quay  of  the  fort,  a 
tall,  powerful  -  looking  man  came  through  the 
shattered  gateway,  and  with  uneven  steps  strode 
over  the  rubbish  towards  a  skiff  which  was  wait 
ing  to  receive  him,  and  into  which  he  jumped 
and  rowed  off.  Recognising  one  of  my  compan 
ions  as  he  passed  our  boat,  he  suddenly  stood  up, 
and  with  a  leap  and  a  scramble  tumbled  in  among 
us,  to  the  imminent  danger  of  upsetting  the  par 
ty.  Our  new  friend  was  dressed  i*i  the  blue 
frockcoat  of  a  civilian,  round  which  he  had  tied 
a  red  silk  sash — his  waistbelt  supported  a  straight 
sword,  something  like  those  worn  with  Court 
dress.  His  muscular  neck  was  surrounded  with 
a  loosely- fastened  silk  handkerchief;  and  wild 
masses  of  black  hair,  tinged  with  grey,  fell  from 
under  a  civilian's  hat  over  his  collar;  Iris  un 


strapped  trousers  were  gathered  up  high  on  his 
legs,  displaying  ample  boots,  garnished  with  for 
midable  brass  spurs.  But  his  face  was  not  one 
to  be  forgotten  —  a  straight,  broad  brow,  from 
which  the  hair  rose  up  like  the  vegetation  on  a 
river  bank,  beetling  black  eyebrows — a  mouth 
coarse  and  grim,  yet  full  of  power,  a  square  jaw 
— a  thick  argumentative  nose — a  new  growth  of 
scrubby  beard  and  moustache— these  were  re 
lieved  by  eyes  of  wonderful  depth  and  light,  such 
as  I  never  saw  before  but  in  the  head  of  a  wild 
beast.  If  you  look  some  day  when  the  sun  is 
not  too  bright  into  the  eye  of  the  Bengal  tiger, 
in  the  Regent's  Park,  as  the  keeper  is  coming 
round,  you  will  form  some  notion  of  the  expres 
sion  I  mean.  It  was  flashing,  fierce,  yet  calm — 
with  a  well  of  fire  burning  behind  and  spouting 
through  it,  an  eye  pitiless  in  anger,  which  now 
and  then  sought  to  conceal  its  expression  beneath 
half-closed  lids,  and  then  burst  out  with  an  an 
gry  glare,  as  if  disdaining  concealment. 

This  was  none  other  than  Louis  T.  Wigfall, 
Colonel  (then  of  his  own  creation)  in  the  Con 
federate  army,  and  Senator  from  Texas  in  the 
United  States — a  good  type  of  the  men  whom 
the  institutions  of  the  country  produce  or  throw 
off — a  remarkable  man,  noted  for  his  ready,  nat 
ural  eloquence ;  his  exceeding  ability  as  a  quick, 
bitter  debater ;  the  acerbity  of  his  taunts ;  and 
his  readiness  for  personal  encounter.  To  the 
last  he  stood  in  his  place  in  the  Senate  at  Wash 
ington,  when  nearly  every  other  Southern  man 
had  seceded,  lashing  with  a  venomous  and  in 
stant  tongue,  and  covering  with  insults,  ridicule, 
and  abuse,  such  men  as  Mr.  Chandler,  of  Michi 
gan,  and  other  Republicans:  never  missing  a 
sitting  of  the  House,  and  seeking  out  adversaries 
in  the  bar  rooms  or  the  gambling  tables.  The 
other  day,  when  the  fire  against  Sumter  was  at 
its  height,  and  the  fort,  in  flames,  was  reduced 
almost  to  silence,  a  small  boat  put  off  from  the 
shore,  and  steered  through  the  shot  and  tho 
splashing  waters  right  for  the  walls.  It  bore 
the  colonel  and  a  negro  oarsman.  Holding  up 
a  white  handkerchief  on  the  end  of  his  sword, 
Wigfall  landed  on  the  quay,  clambered  through 
an  embrasure,  and  presented  himself  before  the 
astonished  Federals  with  a  proposal  to  surren 
der,  quite  unauthorized,  s^nd  "on  his  own  hook," 
which  led  to  the  final  capitulation  of  Major  An 
derson. 

I  am  sorry  to  say,  onr  distinguished  friend  had 
just  been  paying  his  respects  sans  bornes  to  Bac 
chus  or  Bourbon,  for  he  was  decidedly  unsteady 
in  his  gait  and  thick  in  speech  ;  but  his  head  was 
quite  clear,  and  he  was  determined  I  should  know 
all  about  his  exploit.  Major  Whiting  desired  to 
show  me  round  the  work,  but  he  had  no  chance. 
"Here  is  where  I  got  in,"  quoth  Colonel  Wig- 
fall.  "  I  found  a  Yankee  standing  here  by  the 
traverse,  out  of  the  way  of  our  shot.'  He  was 
pretty  well  scared  when  he  saw  me,  but  I  told 
him  not  to  be  alarmed,  but  to  take  me  to  the  of 
ficers.  There  they  were,  huddled  up  in  that  cor 
ner  behind  the  brickwork,  for  our  shells  were 
tumbling  into  the  yard,  and  bursting  like — "  &c. 
(The  Colonel  used  strong  illustrations  and  strange 
expletives  in  narrative.)  Major  Whiting  shook 
his  military  head,  and  said  something  uncivil  to 
me,  in  private,  in  reference  to  volunteer  colonels 
and  the  like,  which  gave  him  relief;  whilst  the 
martial  Senator — I  forgot  to  say  that  he  has  the 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


47 


name,  particularly  in  the  North,  of  having  killed 
more  than  half  a  dozen  men  in  duels — (I  had  an 
escape  of  being  another) — conducted  me  through 
the  casemates  with  uneven  steps,  stopping  at  ev 
ery  traverse  to  expatiate  on  some  phase  of  his 
personal  experiences,  with  his  sword  dangling 
between  his  legs,  and  spurs  involved  in  rubbish 
and  soldiers'  blankets. 

In  my  letter  I  described  the  real  extent  of  the 
damage  inflicted,  and  the  state  of  the  fort  as  I 
found°it.  At  first  the  batteries  thrown  up  by 
the  Carolinians  were  so  poor,  that  the  United 
States'  officers  in  the  fort  were  mightily  amused 
at  them,  and  anticipated  easy  work  in  enfilading, 
ricocheting,  and  battering  them  to  pieces,  if  they 
ever  dared  to  open  fire.  One  morning,  howev 
er,  Captain  Foster,  to  whom  really  belongs  the 
credit  of  putting  Sumter  into  a  tolerable  condi 
tion  of  defence  with  the  most  limited  means,  was 
unpleasantly  surprised  by  seeing  through  his  glass 
a  new  work  in  the  best  possible  situation  for  at 
tacking  the  place,  growing  up  under  the  strenu 
ous  labours  of  a  band  of  negroes.  "I  knew  at 
once,"  he  said,  "the  rascals  had  got  an  engineer 
at  last."  In  fact,  the  Carolinians  were  actually 
talking  of  an  escalade  when  the  officers  of  the 
regular  army,  who  had  "seceded,"  came  down 
and  took  the  direction  of  affairs,  which  otherwise 
might  have  had  very  different  results. 

There  was  a  working  party  of  Volunteers 
clearing  away  the  rubbish  in  the  place.  It  was 
evident  they  were  not  accustomed  to  labour. 
And  on  my  asking  why  negroes  were  not  em 
ployed,  I  was  informed :  ' '  The  niggers  would 
blow  us  all  up,  they're  so  stupid ;  and  the  State 
would  have  to  pay  the  owners  for  any  of  them 
vrho  were  killed  and  injured."  "  In  one  respect, 
then,  white  men  are  not  so  valuable  as  negroes  ?" 
"Yes,  sir, — that's  a  fact." 

Very  few  shell  craters  were  visible  in  the  terre- 
plein ;  the  military  mischief,  such  as  it  was, 
showed  most  conspicuously  on  the  parapet  plat 
form,  over  which  shells  had  been  burst  as  heav 
ily  as  could  be,  to  prevent  the  manning  of  the 
barbette  guns.  A  very  small  affair,  indeed,  that 
shelling  of  Fort  Sumter.  And  yet  who  can  tell 
what  may  arise  from  it?  "Well,  sir,"  exclaim 
ed  one  of  my  companions,  "  I  thank  God  for  it, 
if  it's  only  because  we  arc  beginning  to  have  a 
history  for  Europe.  The  universal  Yankee  na 
tion  swallowed  us  up." 

Never  did  men  plunge  into  unknown  depth  of 
peril  and  trouble  more  recklessly  than  these  Car 
olinians.  They  fling  themselves  against  the 
grim,  black  future,  as  the  cavaliers  under  Rupert 
may  have  rushed  against  the  grim,  black  Iron 
sides.  Will  they  carry  the  image  farther  ? 
Well !  The  exploration  of  Sumter\vas  finished 
at  last,  not  till  we  had  visited  the  officers  of  the 
garrison,  who  lived  in  a  windowless,  shattered 
room,  reached  by  a  crumbling  staircase,  and  who 
produced  whiskey  and  crackers,  many  pleasant 
stories  and  boundless  welcome.  One  young  fel 
low  grumbled  about  pay.  He  said:  "I  have 
not  received  a  cent  since  I  came  to  Charleston 
for  this  business."  But  Major  Whiting,  some 
days  afterwards,  told  me  he  had  not  got  a  dollar 
on  account  of  his  pay,  though  on  leaving  the 
United  States'  army  he  had  abandoned  nearly 
all  his  means  of  subsistence.  These  gentlemen 
were  quite  satisfied  it  Would  all  be  right  eventu 
ally  ;  and  no  one  questioned  the  power  or  incli 


nation  of  the  Government,  which  had  just  been 
inaugurated  under  such  strange  auspices,  to  per 
petuate  its  principles  and  reward  its  servants. 

After  a  time  our  party  went  down  to  the  boats, 
in  which  we  were  rowed  to  the  steamer  that  lay 
waiting  for  us  at  Morris'  Island.  The  original 
intention  of  the  officers  was  to  carry  us  over  to 
Fort  Moultrie,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Chan 
nel,  and  to  examine  it  and  the  floating  iron  bat 
tery  ;  but  it  was  too  late  to  do  so  when  we  got 
off,  and  the  steamer  only  ran  across  and  swept 
around  homewards  by  the  other  shore.  Below, 
in  the  cabin,  there  was  spread  a  lunch  or  quasi 
dinner ;  and  the  party  of  Senators,  past  and 
present,  aides-de-camp,  journalists,  and  flaneurs, 
were  not  indisposed  to  join  it.  For  me  there 
was  only  one  circumstance  which  marred  the 
pleasure  of  that  agreeable  reunion.  Colonel  and 
Senator  Wigfall,  who  had  not  sobered  himself 
by  drinking  deeply,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  ex 
ultation  alluded  to  the  assault  on  Senator  Sum- 
ner  as  a  type  of  the  manner  in  which  the  South 
erners  would  deal  with  the  Northerners  general 
ly,  and  cited  it  as  a  good  exemplification  of  the 
fashion  in  which  they  would  bear  their  "whip 
ping."  Thence,  by  a  natural  digression,  he  ad 
verted  to  the  inevitable  consequences  of  the  mag 
nificent  outburst  of  Southern  indignation  against 
the  Yankees  on  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  and 
to  the  immediate  action  of  England  in  the  matter 
as  soon  as  the  news  came.  Suddenly  reverting 
to  Mr.  Sumner,  whose  name  he  loaded  with  ob 
loquy,  he  spoke  of  Lord  Lyons  in  terms  so  coarse, 
that,  forgetting  the  condition  of  the  speaker,  I 
resented  the  language  applied  to  the  English 
Minister  in  a  very  unmistakeable  manner ;  and 
then  rose  and  left  the  cabin.  In  a  moment  I 
was  followed  on  deck  by  Senator  Wigfall :  his 
manner  much  calmer,  his  hair  brushed  back,  his 
eye  sparkling.  There  was  nothing  left  to  be  de 
sired  in  his  apologies,  which  were  repeated  and 
energetic.  We  were  joined  by  Mr. 'Manning, 
Major  Whiting,  and  Senator  Chesnut,  and  oth 
ers,  to  whom  I  expressed  my  complete  content 
ment  with  Mr.  WTigfall's  explanations.  And  so 
we  returned  to  Charleston.  The  Colonel  and 
Senator,  however,  did  not  desist  from  his  atten 
tions  to  the  good — or  bad — things  below.  It 
was  a  strange  scene — these  men,  hot  and  red- 
handed  in  rebellion,  with  their  lives  on  the  cast, 
trifling  and  jesting,  and  carousing  as  if  they  had 
no  care  on  earth  —  all  excepting  the  gentlemen 
of  the  local  press,  who  were  assiduous  in  note 
and  food  taking.  It  was  near  nightfall  before 
we  set  foot  on  the  quay  of  Charleston.  The  city 
was  indicated  by  the  blaze  of  lights,  and  by  the 
continual  roll  of  drums,  and  the  noisy  music, 
and  the  yelling  cheers  which  rose  above  its 
streets.  As  I  walked  towards  the  hotel,  the 
evening  drove  of  negroes,  male  and  female,  shuf 
fling  through  the  streets  in  all  haste,  in  order  to 
escape  the  patrol  and  the  last  peal  of  the  curfew 
bell,  swept  by  me ;  and  as  I  passed  the  guard 
house  of  the  police,  one  of  my  friends  pointed 
out  the  armed  sentries  pacing  up  and  down  be 
fore  the  porch,  and  the  gleam  of  arms  in  the 
room  inside.  Further  on,  a  squad  of  mounted 
horsemen,  heavily  armed,  turned  up  a  bye-street, 
and  with  jingling  spurs  and  sabres  disappeared 
in  the  dust  and  darkness.  That  is  the  horse 
patrol.  They  scour  the  country  around  the  city, 
and  meet  at  certain  places  during  the  night  to 


48 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


see  if  the  niggers  are  all  right.  Ah,  Fuscus ! 
these  are  signs  of  trouble. 

"  Integer  vita},  scelerjsque  purus 
Non  eget  Mauri  jaculiu  neque  arcu, 
Nee  venenatis  graVidu.  sagittis, 

Fusee,  pharetra." 

But  Fuscus  is  going  to  his  club ;  a  kindly,  pleas 
ant,  chatty,  card  -  playing,  cocktail  -  consuming 
place.  He  nods  proudly  to  an  old  white-wooled 
negro  steward  or  head-waiter  —  a  slave  —  as  a 
proof  which  I  cannot  accept,  with  the  curfew  toll 
ing  in  my  ears,  of  the  excellencies  of  the  domes 
tic  institution.  The  club  was  filled  with  officers  , 
one  of  them,  Mr.  Ransome  Calhoun,*  asked  me 
what  was  the  object  which  most  struck  me  at 
Morris1  Island  ;  I  tell  him — as  was  indeed  the 
case — that  it  was  a  letter-copying  machine,  a 
case  of  official  stationery,  and  a  box  of  Red  Tape, 
lying  on  the  t>each,  just  landed  and  ready  to 
grow  with  the  strength  of  the  young  independ 
ence. 

But  listen !  There  is  a  great  tumult,  as  of 
many  voices  coming  up  the  street,  heralded  by 
blasts  of  music.  It  is  a  speech-making  from  the 
front  of  the  hotel.  Such  an  agitated,  lively  mul 
titude  !  How  they  cheer  the  pale,  frantic  man, 
limber  and  dark-haired,  with  uplifted  arms  and 
clenched  fists,  who  is  perorating  on  the  balcony  ! 
"What  did  he  say?"  "Who  is  he?"  "Why 
it's  he  again!"  "That's  Roger  Pryor — he  says 
that  if  them  Yankee  trash  don't  listen  to  reason, 
and  stand  from  under,  we'll  march  to  the  North 
and  dictate  the  terms  of  peace  in  Faneuil  Hall ! 
Yes,  sir — and  so  we  will,  certa-i-n  su-re  !"  "No 
matter,  for  all  that ;  we  have  shown  we  can  whip 
the  Yankees  whenever  we  meet  them — at  Wash 
ington  or  down  here."  How  much  I  heard  of 
all  this  to-day — how  much  more  this  evening ! 
The  hotel  as  noisy  as  ever  —  more  men  in  uni 
form  arriving  every  few  minutes,  and  the  hall 
and  passages  crowded  with  tall,  good-looking 
Carolinians. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Slaves,  their  masters  and  mistresses — Hotels — Attempted 
boat-journey  to  Fort  Moultrie — Excitement  at  Charles 
ton  against  New  York— Preparations  for  War — General 
Beauregard— Southern  opinion  as  to  the  policy  of  the 
North,  and  estimate  of  the  effect  of  the  war  on  England, 
through  the  cotton  market — Aristocratic  feeling  in  the 
South. 

April  18th. — It  is  as  though  we  woke  up  in  a 
barrack.  No  !  There  is  the  distinction,  that  in 
the  passages  slaves  are  moving  up  and  down  with 
cups  of  iced  milk  or  water  for  their  mistresses  in 
the  early  morning,  cleanly  dressed,  neatly  clad, 
with  the  conceptions  of  Parisian  millinery  adum 
brated  to  their  condition,  and  transmitted  by  the 
white  race,  hovering  round  their  heads  and  bod 
ies.  They  sit  outside  the  doors,  and  chatter  in 
the  passages ;  and  as  the  Irish  waiter  brings  in 
my  hot  water  for  shaving,  there  is  that  odd, 
round,  oily,  half-strangled,  chuckling,  gobble  of 
a  laugh  peculiar  to  the  female  Ethiop,  coming 
in  through  the  doorway. 

Later  in  the  day,  their  mistresses  sail  out  from 
the  inner  harbours,  and  launch  all  their  sails 
along  the  passages,  down  the  stairs,  and  into  the 
long,  hot,  fluffy  salle-a -manger,  where,  blackened 
with  flies  which  dispute  the  viands,  they  take 
their  tremendous  meals.  They  are  pale,  pretty, 


svelte — just  as  I  was  about  to  say  they  were  rath 
er  small,  there  rises  before  me  the  recollection 
of  one  Titanic  dame — a  Carolinian  Juno,  with 
two  lovely  peacock  daughters  —  and  I  refrain 
from  generalising.  Exceedingly  proud  these  la- 
dies  are  said  to  be — for  a  generation  or  two  of 
family  suffice  in  this  new  country,  if  properly 
supported  by  the  possession  of  negroes  and  acres, 
to  give  pride  of  birth,  and  all  the  grandeur  which 
is  derived  from  raising  raw  produce,  cereals,  and 
cotton — sua  terra.  Their  enemies  say  that  tlieT 
grandfathers  of  some  of  these  noble  people  were 
mere  pirates  and  smugglers,  who  dealt  in  a  cav 
alier  fashion  with  the  laws  and  with  the  flotsam 
and  jetsam  of  fortune  on  the  seas  and  reefs  here 
abouts.  Cotton  suddenly — almost  unnaturally, 
as  far  as  the  ordinary  laws  of  commerce  are 
concerned,  grew  up  whilst  land  was  cheap,  and 
slaves  were  of  moderate  price — the  pirates,  and 
piratesses  had  control  of  both,  and  in  a  night  the 
gourd  swelled  and  grew  to  a  prodigious  size. 
These  are  Northern  stories.  What  the  South 
erners  say  of  their  countrymen  and  women  in 
the  upper  part  of  this  ' '  blessed  Union"  I  have 
written  for  the  edification  of  people  at  home. 

The  tables  in  the  eating-room  are  disposed  in 
long  rows,  or  detached  so  as  to  suit  private  par 
ties.  When  I  was  coming  down  to  Charleston, 
one  of  my  fellow-passengers  told  me  he  was 
quite  shocked  the  first  time  he  saw  white  people 
acting  as  servants  ;  but  no  such  scruples  existed 
in  the  Mills  House,  for  the  waiters  were  all  Irish, 
except  one  or  two  Germans.  The  carte  is  much 
the  same  at  all  American  hotels,  the  variations 
depending  on  local  luxuries  or  tastes.  Marvel 
lous  exceedingly  is  it  to  see  the  quantities  of  but 
ter,  treacle,  and  farinaceous  matters  prepared  in 
the  heaviest  form  —  of  fish,  of  many  meats,  of 
eggs  scrambled  or  scarred  or  otherwise  prepared, 
of  iced  milk  and  water,  which  an  American  will 
consume  in  a  few  minutes  in  the  mornings. 
There  is,  positively,  no  rest  at  these  meals — no 
repose.  The  guests  are  ever  passing  in  and  out 
of  the  room,  chairs  are  for  ever  pushed  to  and 
fro  with  a  harsh  grating  noise  that  sets  the  teeth 
on  edge,  and  there  is  a  continual  clatter  of  plates 
and  metal.  Every  man  is  reading  his  paper,  or 
discussing  the  news  with  his  neighbour.  I  was 
introduced  to  a  vast  number  of  people  and  was 
asked  many  questions  respecting  my  views  of 
Sumter,  or  what  I  thought  "  old  Abe  and  Sew- 
ard  would  do  ?"  The  proclamation  calling  out 
75.000  men  issued  by  said  old  Abe,  they  treat 
with  the  most  profound  contempt  or  unsparing 
ridicule,  as  the  case  may  be.  Five  out  of  six  of 
the  men  at  table  wore  uniforms  this  morning. 

Having  made  the  acquaintance  of  several  war 
riors,  as  well  as  that  of  a  Russian  gentleman, 
Baron  Sternberg,  who  was  engaged  in  looking 
about  him  in  Charleston,  and  was,  like  most  for 
eigners,  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  nctum 
este  de  Republicd,  I  went  out  with  Major  Whit 
ing*  and  Mr.  Ward,  the  former  of  whom  was 
anxious  to  show  to  me  Fort  Moultrie  and  the 
left  side  of  the  Channel,  in  continuation  of  my 
trip  yesterday.  It  was  arranged  that  we  should 
go  off  as  quietly  as  possible,  "so  as  to  prevent 
the  newspapers  knowing  anything  about  it." 
The  major  has  a  great  dislike  to  the  gentlemen 
of  the  press,  and  General  Beauregard  had  sent 


Since  killed  in  a  duel  by  Mr.  Rhett. 


*  Now  Confederate  General. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


49 


orders  for  the  staff-boat  to  be  prepared,  so  as  to 
be  quiet  and  private,  but  the  fates  were  against 
us.  On  going  down  to  the  quay,  we  learned 
that  a  gentleman  had  come  down  with  an'  officer 
and  gone  off  in  our  skiff,  the  boat-keepers  believ 
ing  they  were  the  persons  for  whom  it  was  in 
tended.  In  fact,  our  Russian  friend,  Baron 
Sternberg,  had  stolen  a  march  upon  us. 

After  a  time,  the  major  succeeded  in  securing 
the  services  of  the  very  smallest,  most  untrust 
worthy,  and  ridiculous-looking  craft  ever  seen  by 
mortal  eyes.  If  Charon  had  put  a  two-horse 
power  engine  into  his  skiff,  it  might  have  borne 
some  resemblance  to  this  egregious  cymbal  us, 
which  had  once  been  a  flat-bottomed,  open  deck 
ed  cutter  or  galley,  into  the  midst  of  which  the 
owner  had  forced  a  small  engine  and  paddle- 
wheels,  and  at  the  stern  had  erected  a  roofed 
caboose,  or  oblong  pantry,  sacred  to  oil-cans  and 
cockroaches.  The  crew  consisted  of  the  first  cap 
tain  and  the  second  captain,  a  lad  of  tender  years, 
and  that  was  all.  Into  the  pantry  we  scrambled, 
and  sat  down  knee  to  knee,  whilst  the  engine 
was  getting  up  its  steam :  a  very  obstinate  and 
anti-caloric  little  engine  it  was  —  puffing  and 
squeaking,  leaking,  and  distilling  drops  of  water, 
and  driving  out  blasts  of  steam  in  unexpected 
places. 

As  long  as  we  lay  at  the  quay  all  was  right. 
The  major  was  supremely  happy,  for  he  could 
talk  about  Thackeray  and  his  writings — a  theme 
of  which  he  never  tired — nay.  on  which  his  en 
thusiasm  reached  the  height  of  devotional  fer 
vour.  Did  I  ever  know  any  one  like  Major  Pen- 
dennis?  Was  it  known  who  Becky  Sharp  was? 
Who  was  the  O' Mulligan  ?  These  questions  were 
mere  hooks  on  which  to  hang  rhapsodies  and  de 
lighted  dissertation.  He  might  have  got  down 
as  far  as  Pendennis  himself,  when  a  lively  swash 
of  water  flying  over  the  preposterous  little  gun 
wales,  and  dashing  over  our  boots  into  the  cabin, 
announced  that  our  bark  was  under  weigh. 
There  is,  we  were  told,  for  several  months  in  the 
year,  a  brisk  breeze  from  the  southward  and  east 
ward  in  and  off  Charleston  Harbour,  and  there 
was  to-day  a  small  joggle  in  the  water  which 
would  not  have  affected  anything  floating  except 
our  steamer ;  but  as  we  proceeded  down  the  nar 
row  channel  by  Castle  Pinckney,  the  little  boat 
rolled  as  if  she  would  capsize  every  moment,  and 
made  no  pretence  at  doing  more  than  a  mile  an 
hour  at  her  best ;  and  it  became  evident  that  our 
voyage  would  be  neither  pleasant,  prosperous,  nor 
speedy.  Still  the  major  went  on  between  the 
lurches,  and  drew  his  feet  up  out  of  the  water, 
in  order  to  have  "a  quiet  chat,"  as  he  said, 
"about  my  favourite  author."  My  companion 
and  myself  could  not  condense  ourselves  or  fore 
shorten  our  nether  limbs  quite  so  deftly. 

Standing  out  from  the  shelter  towards  Sumter, 
the  sea  came  rolling  on  our  beam,  making  the 
miserable  craft  oscillate  as  if  some  great  hand 
had  caught  her  by  the  funnel — Yankeeice,  smoke^ 
stack — and  was  rolling  her  backwards  and  for 
wards,  as  a  preliminary  to  a  final  keel  over.  The 
water  came  in  plentifully,  and  the  cabin  was 
flooded  with  a  small  sea :  the  latter  partook  of 
the  lively  character  of  the  external  fluid,  and 
made  violent  efforts  to  get  overboard  to  join  it, 
which  generally  were  counteracted  by  the  better 
sustained  and  directed  attempts  of  the  external 
to  get  inside.  The  captain  seemed  very  unhap- 
D 


py ;  the  rest  of  the  crew — our  steerer — had  dis 
covered  that  the  steamer  would  not  steer  at  all, 
and  that  we  were  rolling  like  a  log  on  the  water. 
Certainly  neither  Finckney,  nor  Sumter,  nor 
Moultrie  altered  their  relative  bearings  and  dis 
tances  towards  us  for  half  an  hour  or  so,  though 
they  bobbed  up  and  down  continuously.  "But 
it  is,"  said  the  major,  "in  the  character  of  Col 
onel  Newcome  that  Thackeray  has,  in  my  opin 
ion,  exhibited  the  greatest  amount  of  power ;  the 

tenderness,  simplicity,  love,  manliness,  and " 

Here  a  walloping  muddy  green  wave  came  "all 
aboard,"  and  the  cymbalus  gave  decided  indica 
tions  of  turning  turtle.  We  were  wet  and  mis 
erable,  and  two  hours  or  more  had  now  passed 
in  making  a  couple  of  miles.  The  tide  was  set- 
ting  more  strongly  against  us,  and  just  off  Moul 
trie,  in  the  tideway  between  its  walls  and  Sum 
ter,  could  be  seen  the  heads  of  the  sea-horses  un 
pleasantly  crested.  I  know  not  what  of  eloquent 
disquisition  I  lost,  for  the  major  was  evidently  in 
his  finest  moment  and  on  his  best  subject,  but  I 
ventured  to  suggest  that  we  should  bout  ship  and 
return — and  thus  aroused  him  to  a  sense  of  his 
situation.  An^l  so  we  wore  round — a  very  deli 
cate  operation,  which,  by  judicious  management 
in  getting  side  bumps  of  the  sea  at  favourable 
moments,  we  were  enabled  to  effect  in  some  fif 
teen  or  twenty  minutes ;  and  then  we  became  so 
parboiled  by  the  heat  from  the  engine,  that  con 
versation  was  impossible. 

How  glad  we  were  to  land  once  more  I  need 
not  say.  As  I  gave  the  captain  a  small  votive 
tablet  of  metal,  he  said,  "I'm  thinkin'  it's  very 
well  yes  turned  back.  Av  we'd  gone  any  fur 
ther,  devil  aback  ever  we'd  have  come."  ' '  Why 
didn't  you  say  so  before?"  "Sure  I  didn't  like 
to  spoil  the  trip."  My  gifted  countryman  and  I 
parted  to  meet  no  more. 

****** 

Second  and  third  editions  and  extras !  News 
of  Secession  meetings  and  of  Union  meetings ! 
Every  one  is  filled  with  indignation  against  the 
city  of  New  York,  on  account  of  the  way  in  which 
the  news  of  the  reduction  of  Fort  Sumter  has 
been  received  there.  New  England  has  acted 
just  as  was  expected,  but  better  things  were  an 
ticipated  on  the  part  of  the  Empire  city.  There 
is  no  sign  of  shrinking  from  a  contest :  on  the 
contrary,  the  Carolinians  are  full  of  eagerness  to 
test  their  force  in  the  field.  "  Let  them  come  !" 
is  their  boastful  mot  d'ordre. 

The  anger  which  is  reported  to  exist  in  the 
North  only  adds  to  the  fury  and  animosity  of  the 
Carolinians.  They  are  determined  now  to  act 
on  their  sovereign  rights  as  a  state,  cost  what  it 
may,  and  uphold  the  ordinance  of  secession. 
The  answers  of  several  State  Governors  to  Pres 
ident  Lincoln's  demand  for  troops  have  delight 
ed  our  friends.  Beriah  Magoffin,  of  Kentucky, 
declares  he  won't  give  any  men  for  such  a  wick 
ed  purpose;  and  another  gubernatorial  digni 
tary  laconically  replied  to  the  demand  for  so 
many  thousand  soldiers,  "  Nary  one."  Letcher, 
Governor  of  Virginia,  has  also  sent  a  refusal. 
From  the  North  comes  news  of  mass-meetings, 
of  hauling  down  Secession  colours,  mobbing  Se 
cession  papers,  of  military  bodies  turning  out, 
banks  subscribing  and  lending. 

Jefferson  Davis  has  met  President  Lincoln's 
proclamation  by  a  counter  manifesto,  issuing  let 
ters  of  marque  and  reprisal — on  all  sides  prep- 


50 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


arations  for  war.  The  Southern  agents  are  buy 
ing  steamers,  but  they  fear  the  Northern  states 
will  use  their  navy  to  enforce  a  blockade,  which 
is  much  dreaded,  as  it  will  cut  off  supplies  and 
injure  the  commerce,  on  which  they  so  much  de 
pend.  Assuredly  Mr.  Seward  cannot  know  any 
thing  of  the  feeling  of  the  South,  or  he  would  not 
be  so  confident  as  he  was  that  all  would  blow 
over,  and  that  the  states,  deprived  of  the  care  and 
fostering  influences  of  the  general  Government, 
would  get  tired  of  their  Secession  ordinances, 
and  of  their  experiment  to  maintain  a  national 
life,  so  that  the  United  States  will  be  re-estab 
lished  before  long. 

I  went  over  and  saw  General  Beauregard  at 
his  quarters.  He  was  busy  wich  papers,  order 
lies,  and  despatches,  and  the  outer  room  was 
crowded  with  officers.  His  present  task,  he  told 
me,  wasv  to  put  Sumter  in  a  state  of  defence,  and 
to  disarm  the  works  bearing  on  it,  so  as  to  get 
their  fire  directed  on  the  harbour  approaches, 
as  "the  North  in  its  madness"  might  attempt  a 
naval  attack  on  Charleston.  His  manner  of 
transacting  business  is  clear  and  rapid.  Two 
vases  filled  with  flowers  on  his«  table,  flanking 
his  maps  and  plans ;  and  a  little  hand  bouquet 
of  roses,  geraniums,  and  scented  flowers  lay  on 
a  letter  which  he  was  writing  as  I  came  in,  by 
way  of  paper  weight.  He  offered  me  every  as 
sistance  and  facility,  relying,  of  course,  on  my 
strict  observance  of  a  neutral's  duty.  I  remind 
ed  him  once  more,  that  as  the  representative  of 
an  English  journal,  it  would  be  my  duty  to  write 
freely  to  England  respecting  what  I  saw ;  and 
that  I  must  not  be  held  accountable  if,  on  the  re 
turn  of  my  letters  to  America,  a  month  after  they 
were  written,  it  was  found  they  contained  in 
formation  to  which  circumstances  might  attach 
an  objectionable  character.  The  General  said, 
"I  quite  understand  you.  We  must  take  our 
chance  of  that,  and  leave  you  to  exercise  your 
discretion." 

In  the  evening  I  dined  with  our  excellent  Con 
sul,  Mr.  Bunch,  who  had  a  small  and  very  agree 
able  party  to  meet  me.  One  very  venerable  old 
gentleman,  named  Huger  (pronounced  as  Hu- 
gee),  was  particularly  interesting  in  appearance 
and  conversation.  He  formerly  held  some  offi 
cial  appointment  under  the  Federal  Government, 
but  had  gone  out  with  his  state,  and  had  been 
confirmed  in  his  appointment  by  the  Confederate 
Government.  Still  he  was  not  happy  at  the 
prospect  before  him  or  his  country.  "I  have 
lived  too  long,"  he  exclaimed;  "  I  should  have 
died  'ere  these  evil  days  arrived. "  What  thoughts, 
indeed,  must  have  troubled  his  mind  when  he  re 
flected  that  his  country  was  but  little  older  than 
himself;  for,  he  was  one  who  had  shaken  hands 
with  the  framers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence.  But  though  the  tears  rolled  down  his 
cheeks  when  he  spoke  of  the  prospect  of  civil 
war,  there  was  no  symptom  of  apprehension  for 
the  result,  or  indeed  of  any  regret  for  the  con 
test,  which  he  regarded  as  the  natural  conse 
quence  of  the  insults,  injustice,  and  aggression 
of  the  North  against  Southern  rights. 

Only  one  of  the  company,  a  most  lively,  quaint, 
witty  old  lawyer  named  Petigru,  dissented  from 
the  "doctrines  of  Secession  ;  but  he  seems  to  be 
treated  as  an  amiable,  harmless  person,  who  has 
a  weakness  of  intellect  or  a  "  bee  in  his  bonnet" 
<on  this  particular  matter. 


It  was  scarcely  very  agreeable  to.  my  host  or 
myself  to  find  that  no  considerations  were  be 
lieved  to  be  of  consequence  in  reference  to  En 
gland  except  her  material  interests,  and  that 
these  worthy  gentlemen  regarded  her  as  a  sort  of 
appanage  of  their  cotton  kingdom.  "Why,  sir, 
we  have  only  to  shut  off  your  supply  of  cotton 
for  a  few  weeks,  and  we  can  create  a  revolution 
in  Great  Britain.  There  are  four  millions  of 
your  people  depending  on  us  for  their  bread,  not 
to  speak  of  the  many  millions  of  dollars.  No,  sir, 
we  know  that  England  must  recognise  us,"  &c. 

Liverpool  and  Manchester  have  obscured  all 
Great  Britain  to  the  Southern  eye.  I  confess 
the  tone  of  my  friends  irritated  me.  I  said  so  to 
Mr. Bunch,  who  laughed,  and  remarked,  "You'll 
not  mind  it  when  you  get  as  much  accustomed 
to  this  sort  of  thing  as  I  am."  I  could  not  help 
saying,  that  if  Great  Britain  were  such  a  sham 
as  they  supposed,  the  sooner  a  hole  was  drilled 
in  her,  and  the  whole  empire  sunk  under  water, 
the  better  for  the  world,  the  cause  of  truth,  and 
of  liberty. 

These  tall,  thin,  fine -faced  Carolinians  are 
great  materialists.  Slavery  perhaps  has  aggra 
vated  the  tendency  to  look  at  all  the  world 
through  parapets  of  cotton  bales  and  rice  bags, 
and  though  more  stately  and  less  vulgar,  the 
worshippers  here  are  not  less  prostrate  before  the 
"  almighty  dollar"  than  the  Northerners.  Again 
cropping  out  of  the  dead  level  of  hate  to  the 
Yankee,  grows  its  climax  in  the  profession  from 
nearly  every  one  of  the  guests,  that  he  would 
prefer  a  return  to  the  British  rule  to  any  reunion 
with  New  England.  "The  names  in  South 
Carolina  show  our  origin — Charleston,  and  Ash 
ley,  and  Cooper,  &c.  Our  Gadsden,  Sumter,  and 
Pinckney  were  true  cavaliers,"  &c.  They  did 
not  say  anything  about  Pedee,  or  Tombigbee,  or 
Sullivan's  Island,  or  the  like.  We  all  have  our 
little  or  big  weaknesses. 

I  see  no  trace  of  cavalier  descent  in  the  names 
of  Huger,  Rose,  Manning,  Chesnut,  Pickens;  but 
there  is  a  profession  of  faith  in  the  cavaliers  and 
their  cause  among  them  because  it  is  fashionable 
in  Carolina.  They  affect  the  agricultural  faith 
and  the  belief  of  a  landed  gentry.  It  is  not 
only  over  the  wine-glass — why  call  it  cup  ? — that 
they  ask  for  a  Prince  to  reign  over  them  ;  I  have 
heard  the  wish  repeatedly  expressed  within  the 
last  two  days  that  we  could  spare  them  one  of 
our  young  Princes,  but  never  in  jest  or  in  any 
frivolous  manner. 

On  my  way  home  again  I  saw  the  sentries  on 
their  march,  the  mounted  patrols  starting  on 
their  ride,  and  other  evidences  that  though  the 
slaves  are  "  the  happiest  and  most  contented  race 
in  the  world,"  they  require  to  be  taken  care  of 
like  less  favoured  mortals.  The  city  watch- 
house  is  filled  every  night  with  slaves,  who  are 
confined  there  until  reclaimed  by  their  owners, 
whenever  they  are  found  out  after  nine  o'clock, 
P.M.,  without  special  passes  or  permits.  Guns 
are  firing  for  the  Ordjnance  of  Secession  in  Vir 
ginia. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Charleston ;  the  Market-place— Irishmen  at  Charleston— 
Governor  Pickens  :  his  political  economy  and  theories 
— Newspaper  offices  and  counting-houses — Rumours  as 
to  the  war  policy  of  the  South. 
April  19tk. — An  exceeding  hot  day.     The  sun 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


51 


pours  on  the  broad  sandy  street  of  Charleston 
with  immense  power,  and  when  the  wind  blows 
down  the  thoroughfare  it  sends  before  it  vast 
masses  of  hot  dust.  The  houses  are  generally 
detached,  surrounded  by  small  gardens,  well  pro 
vided  with  verandahs  to  protect  the  windows  from 
the  glare,  and  are  sheltered  with  creepers  and 
shrubs  and  flowering  plants,  through  which  flit 
humming-birds  and  fly-catchers.  In  some  places 
the  streets  and  roadways  are  covered  with  plank 
ing,  and  as  long  as  the  wood  is  sound  they  are 
pleasant  to  walk  or  drive  upon. 

I  paid  a  visit  to  the  markets ;  the  stalls  are 
presided  over  by  negroes,  male  and  female ;  the 
coloured  people  engaged  in  selling  and  buying 
are  well  clad ;  the  butchers'  meat  by  no  means 
tempting  to  the  eye,  but  the  fruit  and  vegetable 
stalls  well  filled.  Fish  is  scarce  at  present,  as 
the  boats  are  not  permitted  to  proceed  to  sea 
lest  they  should  be  whipped  up  by  the  expected 
Yankee  cruisers,  or  carry  malcontents  to  com 
municate  with  the  enemy.  Around  the  flesh- 
market  there  is  a  skirling  crowd  of  a  kind  of 
turkey-buzzard ;  these  are  useful  as  scavengers 
and  are  protected  by  law.  They  do  their  nasty 
work  very  zealously,  descending  on  the  offal 
thrown  out  to  them  with  the  peculiar  crawling, 
puify,  soft  sort  of  flight  which  is  the  badge  of  all 
their  tribe,  and  contending  with  wing  and  beak 
against  the  dogs  which  dispute  the  viands  with 
the  harpies.  It  is  curious  to  watch  the  expres 
sion  of  their  eyes  as  with  outstretched  necks  they 
peer  down  from  the  ledge  of  the  market  roof  on 
the  stalls  and  scrutinise  the  operations  of  the 
butchers  below.  They  do  not  prevent  a  dis 
agreeable  odour  in  the  vicinity  of  the  markets, 
nor  are  they  deadly  to  a  fine  and  active  breed  of 
rats. 

Much  drumming  and  marching  through  the 
streets  to-day.  One  very  ragged  regiment  which 
had  been  some  time  at  Morris'  Island  halted  in 
the  shade  near  me,  and  I  was  soon  made  aware 
they  consisted,  for  the  great  majority,  of  Irish 
men.  The  Emerald  Isle,  indeed,  has  contributed 
largely  to  the  population  of  Charleston.  In  the 
principal  street  there  is  a  large  and  fine  red  sand 
stone  building  with  the  usual  Greek- Yankee-com 
posite  portico,  over  which  is  emblazoned  the 
crownless  harp  and  the  shamrock  wreath  proper 
to  a  St.  Patrick's  Hall,  and  several  Roman  Catho 
lic  churches  also  attest  the  Hibernian  presence. 

I  again  called  on  General  Beauregard,  and 
had  a  few  moments'  conversation  with  him.  He 
told  me  that  an  immense  deal  depended  on  Vir 
ginia,  and'  that  as  yet  the  action  of  the  people  in 
that  State  had  not  been  as  prompt  as  might  have 
been  hoped,  for  the  President's  proclamation  was 
a  declaration  of  war  against  the  South,  in  which 
all  would  be  ultimately  involved.  He  is  going 
to  Montgomery  to  confer  with  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis. 
I  have  no  doubt  there  is  to  be  some  movement 
made  in  Virginia.  Whiting  is  under  orders  to 
repair  there,  and  he  hinted  that  he  had  a  task  of 
no  common  nicety  and  difficulty  to  perform.  He 
is  to  visit  the  forts  which  had  been  seized  on  the 
coast  of  North  Carolina,  and  probably  will  have 
a  look  at  Portsmouth.  It  is  incredible  that  the 
Federal  authorities  should  have  neglected  to  se 
cure  this  place. 

^Later  I  visited  the  Governor  of  the  State,  Mr. 
Pickens,  to  whom  I  was  conducted  by  Colonel 
Lucas,  his  aide-de-camp.  His  palace  was  a  very 


humble  shed-like  edifice  with  large  rooms,  on  the 
doors  of  which  were  pasted  pieces  of  paper  with 
sundry  high-reading  inscriptions,  such  as  "Ad 
jutant  General's  Dept.,  Quartermaster-General's 
Dept.,  Attorney  General  of  State,"  &c.,  and 
through  the  doorways  could  be  seen  men  in  uni 
form,  and  grave,  earnest  people  busy  at  their 
desks  with  pen,  ink,  paper,  tobacco,  and  spit 
toons.  The  governor,  a  stout  man,  of  a  big 
head,  and  a  large  important  looking  face,  with 
watery  eyes  and  flabby  features,  was  seated  in  a 
barrack-like  room,  furnished  in  the  plainest  way 
and  decorated  by  the  inevitable  portrait  of  George 
Washington,  close  to  which  was  the  "  Ordinance 
of  Secession  of  th.e  State  of  South  Carolina"  of 
last  year. 

Governor  Pickens  is  considerably  laughed  at 
by  his  subjects,  and  I  was  amused  by  a  little 
middy,  who  described  with  much  unction  the 
governor's  alarm  on  his  visit  to  Fort  Pickens, 
when  he  was  told  that  there  were  a  number  of 
live  shells  and  a  quantity  of  powder  still  in  the 
place.  He  is  said  to  have  commenced  one  of 
his  speeches  with  "Born  insensible  to  fear,"  &c. 
To  me  the  governor  was  very  courteous,  but  I 
confess  the  heat  of  the  day  did  not  dispose  me  to 
listen  with  due  attention  to  a  lecture  on  political 
economy  with  which  he  favoured  me.  I  was  told, 
however,  that  he  had  practised  with  success  on 
the  late  Czar  when  he  was  United  States  Minis 
ter  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  that  he  does  not  suffer 
his  immediate  staff  to  escape  from  having  their 
minds  improved  on  the  relations  of  capital  to  la 
bour,  and  on  the  vicious  condition  of  capital  and 
labour  in  the  North. 

•  "In  the  North,  then,  you  will  perceive,  Mr. 
Russell,  they  have  maximised  the  hostile  condi 
tion  of  opposed  interests  in  the  accumulation  of 
capital  and  in  the  employment  of  labour,  whilst 
we  in  the  South,  by  the  peculiar  excellence  of 
our  domestic  institution,  have  minimised  their 
opposition  and  maximised  the  identity  of  inter 
est  by  the  investment  of  capital  in  the  labourer 
himself, "  and  so  on,  or  something  like  it.  I  could 
not  help  remarking  it  struck  me  there  was  "  an 
other  difference  betwixt  the  North  and  South 
which  he  had  overlooked  —  the  capital  of  the 
North  is  represented  by  gold,  silver,  notes,  and 
other  exponents,  which  are  good  all  the  world 
over  and  are  recognised  as  such  ;  your  capital 
has  power  of  locomotion,  and  ceases  to  exist  the 
moment  it  crosses  a  geographical  line."  "That 
remark,  sir,"  said  the  Governor,  "requires  that 
I  should  call  your  attention  to  the  fundamental 
principles  on  which  the  abstract  idea  of  capital 
should  be  formed.  In  order  to  clear  the  ground, 
let  us  first  inquire  into  the  soundness  of  the  ideas 
put  forward  by  your  Adam  Smith" — I  had  to 
look  at  my  watch  and  to  promise  I  would  come 
back  to  be  illuminated  on  some  other  occasion, 
and  hurried  off  to  keep  an  engagement  with  my 
self  to  write  letters  by  the  next  mail. 

The  Governor  writes  very  good  proclamations, 
nevertheless,  and  his  confidence  in  South  Caro 
lina  is  unbounded.  "  If  we  stand  alone,  sir,  we 
must  win.  They  can't  whip  us."  A  gentleman 
named  Pringle,  for  whom  I  had  letters  of  intro 
duction,  has  come  to  Charleston  to  ask-  me  to 
his  plantation,  but  there  will  be  no  boat  from  the 
port  till  Monday,  and  it  is  uncertain  then  wheth 
er  the  blockading  vessels,  of  which  we  hear  so 
much,  may  not  be  down  by  that  time. 


52 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


April  20tk.  —  I  visited  the  editors  of  the 
Charleston  Mercury  and  the  Charleston  Courier 
to-day  at  their  offices.  The  Rhett  family  have 
been  active  agitators  for  secession,  and  it  is  said 
they  are  not  over  well  pleased  with  Jefferson 
Davis  for  neglecting  their  claims  to  office.  The 
elder,  a  pompous,  hard,  ambitious  man,  possesses 
ability.  He  is  fond  of  alluding  to  his  English 
connections  and  predilections,  and  is  intolerant 
of  New  England  to  the  last  degree.  I  received 
from  him,  ere  I  left,  a  pamphlet  on  his  life,^ca- 
reer,  and  services.  In  the  newspaper  offices 
there  was  nothing  worthy  of  remark ;  they  were 
possessed  of  that  obscurity  which  is  such  a  char 
acteristic  of  the  haunts  of  journalism — the  clouds 
in  which  the  lightning  is  hiding.  Thence  to 
haunts  more  dingy  still  where  Plutus  lives— to 
the  counting  houses  of  the  cotton  brokers,  up 
many  pairs  of  stairs  into  large  rooms  furnished 
with  hard  seats,  engravings  of  celebrated  clip 
pers,  advertisements  of  emigrant  agencies  and  of 
lines  of  steamers,  little  flocks  of  cotton,  specimens 
of  rice,  grain,  and  seed  in  wooden  bowls,  and 
clerks  living  inside  railings,  with  secluded  spit 
toons,  and  ledgers,  and  tumblers  of  water. 

I  called  on  several  of  the  leading  merchants 
eind  bankers,  such  as  Mr.  Rose,  Mr.  Muir.  Mr. 
Trenholm,  and  others.  With  all  it  was  the  same 
story.  Their  young  men  were  off  to  the  wars — 
no  business  doing.  In  one  office  I  saw  an  an 
nouncement  of  a  company  for  a  direct  communi 
cation  by  steamers  between  a  southern  port  and 
Europe.  "When  do  you  expect  that  line  to  be 
opened?"  I  asked.  "The  United  States' cruis 
ers  will  surely  interfere  with  it."  "Why,  I  ex 
pect,  sir,"  replied  the  merchant,  "that  if  those 
miserable  Yankees  try  to  blockade  us,  and  keep 
you  from  our  cotton,  you'll  just  send  their  ships 
to  the  bottom  and  acknowledge  us.  That  will 
be  before  autumn,  I  think."  It  was  in  vain  I 
assured  him  he  would  be  disappointed.  "Look 
out  there,"  he  said,  pointing  to  the  wharf,  on 
which  were  piled  some  cotton  bales;  "therms 
the  key  will  open  all  our  ports,  and  put  us  into 
John  Bull's  strong  box  as  well." 

I  dined  to-day  at  the  hotel,  notwithstanding 
many  hospitable  invitations,  with  Messrs.  Man 
ning,  Porcher  Miles,  Reed,  and  Pringle.  Mr. 
Trescot,  who  was  Under-Secretary-of-State  in 
Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet,  joined  us,  and  I  prom 
ised  to  visit  his  plantation  as  soon  as  I  have  re 
turned  from  Mr.  Pringle's.  We  heard  much  the 
same  conversation  as  usual,  relieved  by  Mr.  Tres- 
cot's  sound  sense  and  philosophy.  He  sees  clear 
ly  the  evils  of  slavery,  but  is,  like  all  of  us,  un 
able  to  discover  the  solution  and  means  of  avert 
ing  them. 

The  Secessionists  are  in  great  delight  with 
Governor  Letcher's  proclamation,  calling  out 
troops  and  volunteers,  and  it  is  hinted  that 
Washington  will  be  attacked,  and  the  nest  of 
Black  Republican  vermin  which  haunt  the  capi 
tal  driven  out.  Agents  are  to  be  at  once  de 
spatched  to  get  up  a  navy,  and  every  effort  made 
to  carry  out  the  policy  indicated  in  Jeff  Davis's 
issue  of  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal.  Norfolk 
harbour  is  blocked  up  to  prevent  the  United 
States  ships  getting  away ;  and  at  the  same  time 
we  hear  that  the  United  States  officer  command 
ing  at  the  arsenal  of  Harper's  Ferry  has  retired 
into  Pennsylvania,  after  destroying 'the  place  by 
fire.  How  "  old  John  Brown"  would  have  won 


dered  and  rejoiced  had  he  lived  a  few  months 
longer ! 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Visit  to  a  plantation  ;  hospitable  reception— By  steamer  to 
Georgetown — Description  of  the  town — A  country  man 
sion—Masters  and  slaves— Slave  diet— Humming-birds 
—Land  irrigation  — Negro  quarters  —  Back  to  George- 
town. 

April  2\st. — In  the  afternoon  I  went  with  Mr. 
Porcher  Miles  to  visit  a  small  farm  and  planta 
tion,  some  miles  from  the  city,  belonging  to  Mr. 
Crafts.  Our  arrival  was  unexpected,  but  the 
planter's  welcome  was  warm.  Mrs.  Crafts  show 
ed  us  round  the  place,  of  which  the  beauties 
were  due  to  nature  rather  than  to  art,  and  so  far 
the  lady  was  the  fitting  mistress  of  the  farm. 

We  wandered  through  tangled  brakes  and 
thick  Indian-like  jungle,  filled  with  disagreeable 
insects,  down  to  the  edge  of  a  small  lagoon. 
The  beech  was  perforated  with  small  holes,  in 
which  Mrs.  Crafts  said  little  crabs,  called  "fid 
dlers"  from  their  resemblance  in  petto  to  a  per 
former  on  the  fiddle,  make  their  abode  ;  but  nei 
ther  them  nor  "spotted  snakes"  did  we  see. 
And  so  to  dinner,  for  which  our  hostess  made 
needless  excuses.  "I  am  afraid  I  shall  have  to 
ask  you  to  eke  out  your  dinner  with  potted 
meats,  but  I  can  answer  for  Mr.  Crafts  giving 
you  a  bottle  of  good  old  wine."  "And  what 
better,  madam,"  quoth  Mr.  Miles,  "what  better 
can  you  offer  a  soldier  ?  What  do  we  expect 
but  grape  and  canister  ?" 

Mr.  Miles,  who  was  formerly  member  of  the 
United  States  Congress,  and  who  has  now  mi 
grated  to  the  Confederate  States  of  America, 
rendered  himself  conspicuous  a  few  years  ago 
when  a  dreadful  visitation  of  yellow  fever  came 
upon  Norfolk  and  destroyed  one-half  of  the  in 
habitants.  At  that  terrible  time,  when  all  who 
could  move  were  flying  from  the  plague-stricken 
spot,  Mr.  Porcher  Miles  flew  to  it,  visited  the 
hospitals,  tended  the  sick  ;  and  although  a  weak 
ly,  delicate  man,  gave  an  example  of  such  energy 
and  courage  as  materially  tended  to  save  those 
who  were  left.  I  never  heard  him  say  a  word 
to  indicate  that  he  had  been  at  Norfolk  at  all. 

At  the  rear  of  the  cottage-like  residence  (to 
the  best  of  my  belief  built  of  wood),  in  which  the 
planter's  family  lived,  was  a  small  enclosure, 
surrounded  by  a  palisade,  containing  a  number 
of  wooden  sheds,  which  were  the  negro  quarters ; 
and  after  dinner,  as  we  sat  on  the  steps,  the 
children  were  sent  for  to  sing  for  us.  They 
came  very  shyly,  and  by  degrees ;  first  peeping 
round  the  corners  and  from  behind  trees,  often 
times  running  away  in  spite  of  the  orders  of  their 
haggard  mammies,  till  they  were  chased,  cap 
tured,  and  brought  back  by  their  elder  brethren. 
They  were  ragged,  dirty,  shoeless  urchins  of  both 
sexes;  the  younger  ones  abdominous  as  infant 
Hindoos,  and  wild  as  if  just  caught.  With  much 
difficulty  the  elder*  children  were  dressed  into 
line ;  then  they  began  to  shuffle  their  flat  feet, 
to  clap  their  hands,  and  to  drawl  out  in  a  monot 
onous  sort  of  chant  something  about -the  "River 
Jawdam,"  after  which  Mrs.  Crafts  rewarded  them 
with  lumps  of  sugar,  which  were  as  fruitful  of 
disputes  as  the  apple  of  discord.  A  few  fathers 
and  mothei's  gazed  at  the  scene  from  a  distance. 

As  we  sat  listening  to  the  wonderful  song  of 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


53 


the  mocking-birds,  when  these  young  Sybarites 
had  retired,  a  great,  big,  burly  red-faced  gentle 
man,  as  like  a  Yorkshire  farmer  in  high  perfec 
tion  as  any  man  I  ever  saw  in  the  old  country, 
rode  up  to  the  door,  and,  after  the  usual  cere 
mony  of  introduction  and  the  collating  of  news, 
and  the  customary  assurance  "They  can't  whip 
us,  sir!"  invited  me  then  and  there  to  attend  a 
fete  champetre  at  his  residence,  where  there  is  a 
lawn  famous  for  trees  dating  from  the  first  set 
tlement  of  the  colony,  and  planted  by  this  gen 
tleman's  ancestor. 

Trees  are  objects  of  great  veneration  in  Amer 
ica  if  they  are  of  any  size.  There  are  perhaps 
two  reasons  for  this.  In  the  first  place,  the  in 
digenous  forest  trees  are  rarely  of  any  great 
magnitude.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  natural 
to  Americans  to  admire  dimension  and  antiqui 
ty;  and  a  big  tree  gratifies  both  organs — size 
and  veneration. 

I  must  record  an  astonishing  feat  of  this  noble 
Carolinian.  The  heat  of  the  evening  was  in 
dubitably  thirst-compelling,  and  we  went  in  to 
"have  a  drink."  Among  other  things  on  the 
table  were  a  decanter  of  cognac  and  a  flask  of 
white  cura9oa,  The  planter  filled  a  tumbler 
half  full  of  brandy.  "What's  in  that  flat  bot 
tle,  Crafts?"  "That's  white  curasoa."  The 
planter  tasted  a  little;  and  having  smacked  his 
lips  and  exclaimed  "first-rate  stuff,"  proceeded 
to  water  his  brandy  with  it,  and  tossed  off  a  full 
brimmer  of  the  mixture  without  any  remarkable 
ulterior  results.  They  are  a  hard-headed  race. 
I  doubt  if  cavalier  or  puritan  ever  drank  a  more 
potent  bumper  than  our  friend  the  big  planter. 

April  22nd. — To-day  was  fixed  for  the  visit 
to  Mr.  Pringle's  plantation,  which  lies  above 
Georgetown  near  the  Peedee  River.  Our  party, 
which  consisted  of  Mr.  Mitchell,  an  eminent 
lawyer  of  Charleston,  Colonel  Reed,  a  neigh 
bouring  planter,  Mr.  Ward  of  New  York,  our 
host,  and  myself,  were  on  board  the  Georgetown 
steamer  at  seven  o'clock,  A.M.,  and  started  with 
a  quantity  of  commissariat  stores,  ammunition, 
and  the  like,  for  the  use  of  the  troops  quartered 
along  the  coast.  There  was,  of  course,  a  large 
supply  of  newspapers  also.  At  that  early  hour 
invitations  to  the  "bar"  were  not  uncommon, 
where  the  news  was  discussed  by  long-legged, 
grave,  sallow  men.  There  was  a  good  deal  of 
joking  about  "old  Abe  Lincoln's  paper  block 
ade,"  and  the  report  that  the  Government  had 
ordered  their  cruisers  to  treat  the  crew  of  Con 
federate  privateers  as  "pirates"  provoked  de 
risive  and  menacing  comments.  The  full  im 
pulses  of  national  life  are  breathing  through  the 
whole  of  this  people.  There  is  their  flag  flying 
over  Sumter,  and  the  Confederate  banner  is  wav 
ing  on  all  the  sand-forts  and  headlands  which 
guard  the  approaches  to  Charleston. 

A  civil  war  and  persecution  have  already 
commenced.  "  Suspected  Abolitionists"  are  ill- 
treated  in  the  South,  and  "  Suspected  Secession 
ists"  are  mobbed  and  beaten  in  the  North.  The 
news  of  the  attack  on  the  6th  Massachusetts,  and 
the  Pennsylvania  regiment,  by  the  mob  in  Balti 
more,  has  been  received  with  great  delight ;  but 
some  long-headed  people  say  that  it  will  only 
expose  Baltimore  and  Maryland  to  the  full  force 
of  the  Northern  States.  The  riot  took  place  on 
the  anniversary  of  Lexington. 
The  "Nina"  was  soon  in  open  sea,  steering 


northwards  and  keeping  four  miles  from  shore 
in  order  to  clear  the  shoals  and  banks  which 
fringe  the  low  sandy  coasts,  and  effectually  pre 
vent  even  light  gunboats  covering  a  descent  by 
their  ordnance.  This  was  one  of  the  reasons 
why  the  Federal  fleet  did  not  make  anv  attempt 
to  relieve  Fort  Sumter  during  the  engagement. 
On  our  way  out  we  could  see  the  holes  made  in 
the  large  hotel  and  other  buildings  on  Sullivan's 
Island  behind  Fort  Moultrie,  by  the  shot  from 
the  fort,  which  caused  terror  among  the  negroes 
"miles  away."  There  was  no  sign  of  any  block 
ading  vessel,  but  look-out  parties  were  posted 
along  the  beach,  and  as  the  skipper  said  we 
might  have  to  make  our  return-journey  by  land, 
every  sail  on  the  horizon  was  anxiously  scanned 
through  our  glasses. 

Having  passed  the  broad  mouth  of  the  Santee, 
the  steamer  in  three  hours  and  a  half  ran  up  an 
estuary,  into  which  the  Maccamaw  River  and 
the  Peedee  River  pour  their  united  waters. 

Our  vessel  proceeded  along  shore  to  a  small 
jetty,  at  the  end  of  which  was  a  group  of  armed 
men,  some  of  them  being  part  of  a  military  post, 
to  defend  the  coast  and  river,  established  under 
cover  of  an  earthwork  and  palisades  constructed 
with  trunks  of  trees,  and  mounting  three  32- 
pounders.  Several  posts  of  a  similar  character 
lay  on  the  river  banks,  and  from  some  of  these 
AVC  were  boarded  by  men  in  boats  hungry  for 
news  and  newspapers.  Most  of  the  men  at  the 
pier  were  cavalry  troopers,  belonging  to  a  volun 
teer  association  of  the  gentry  for  coast  defence, 
and  they  had  been  out  night  and  day  patrolling 
the  shores,  and  doing  the  work  of  common  sol 
diers — very  precious  material  for  such  work. 
They  wore  grey  tunics,  slashed  and  faced  with 
yellow,  buff  belts,  slouched  felt  hats,  ornamented 
with  drooping  cocks'  plumes,  and  long  jack 
boots,  which  well  became  their  fine  persons  and 
bold  bearing,  and  were  evidently  due  to  "  Cava 
lier"  associations.  They  were  all  equals.  Our 
friends  on  board  the  boat  hailed  them  by  their 
Christian  names,  and  gave  and  heard  the  news. 
Among  the  cases  landed  at  the  pier  were  cer 
tain  of  champagne  and  pates,  on  which  Captain 
Blank  was  wont  to  regale  his  company  daily  at 
his  own  expense,  or  that  of  his  cotton  broker. 
Their  horses  picketed  in  the  shade  of  trees  close 
to  the  beach,  the  parties  of  women  riding  up  and 
down  the  sands,  or  driving  in  light  tax-carts, 
suggested  images  of  a  large  pic-nic,  and  a  state 
of  society  quite  indifferent  to  Uncle  Abe's  cruis 
ers  and  "Hessians."  After  a  short  delay  here, 
the  steamer  proceeded  on  her  way  to  George 
town,  an  ancient  and  once  important  settlement 
and  port,  which  was  marked  in  the  distance  by 
the  little  forest  of  masts  rising  above  the  level 
land,  and  the  tops  of  the  trees  beyond,  and  by  a 
solitary  church-spire. 

As  the  "Nina"  approaches  the  tumble-down 
wharf  of  the  old  town,  two  or  three  citizens  ad 
vance  from  the  shade  of  shaky  sheds  to  welcome 
us,  and  a  few  country  vehicles  and  light  phaetons 
are  drawn  forth  from  the  same  shelter  to  re 
ceive  the  passengers,  while  the  negro  boys  and 
iris  who  have  been  playing  upon  the  bales  of 
cotton  and  barrels  of  rice,  which  represent  the 
trade  of  the  place  on  the  wharf,  take  up  com 
manding  positions  for  the  better  observation  of 
our  proceedings. 

There  is  about  Georgetown  an  air  of  quaint 


54 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


simplicity  and  old-fashioned  quiet,  which  con 
trasts  refreshingly  with  the  bustle  and  tumult  of 
American  cities.  While  waiting  for  our  vehicle 
we  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  Colonel  Reed,  who 
took  us  into  an  old-fashioned,  angular,  wooden 
mansion,  more  than  a  century  old,  still  sound  in 
every  timber,  and  testifying,  in  its  quaint  wain- 
scotings,  and  the  rigid  framework  of  door  and 
window,  to  the  durability  of  its  cypress  timbers 
and  the  preservative  character  of  the  atmosphere. 
In  early  days  it  was  the  grand  house  of  the  old  set 
tlement,  and  the  residence  of  the  founder  of  the 
female  branch  of  the  family  of  our  host,  who  now 
onlv  makes  it  his  halting-place  when  passing  to 
and  fro  between  Charleston  and  his  plantation, 
leaving  it  the  year  round  in  charge  of  an  old 
servant  and  her  grandchild.  Rose-trees  and 
flowering  shrubs  clustered  before  the  porch  and 
filled  the  garden  in  front,  and  the  establishment 
gave  one  a  good  idea  of  a  London  merchant's 
retreat  about  Chelsea  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago. 

At  length  we  were  ready  for  our  journey,  and, 
in  two  light  covered  gigs,  proceeded  along  the 
sandy  track  which,  after  a  while,  led  us  to  a 
road  cut  deep  in  the  bosom  of  the  woods,  where 
silence  was  only  broken  by  the  cry  of  a  wood 
pecker,  the  screams  of  a  crane,  or  the  sharp  chal 
lenge  of  the  jay.  For  miles  we  passed  through 
the  shades  of  this  forest,  meeting  only  two  or 
three  vehicles  containing  female  planterdom  on 
little  excursions  of  pleasure  or  business,  who 
smiled  their  welcome  as  we  passed.  Arrived  at 
a  deep  chocolate-coloured  stream,  called  Black 
River,  full  of  fish  and  alligators,  we  find  a  flat 
large  enough  to  accommodate  vehicles  and  pas 
sengers,  and  propelled  by  two  negroes  pulling 
upon  a  stretched  rope,  in  the  manner  usual  in  the 
ferry-boats  of  Switzerland. 

Another  drive  through  a  more  open  country, 
and  we  reach  a  fine  grove  of  pine  and  live-oak, 
which  melts  away  into  a  shrubbery  guarded  by  a 
rustic  gateway :  passing  through  this,  we  are 
brought  by  a  sudden  turn  to  the  planter's  house, 
buried  in  trees,  which  dispute  with  the  green 
sward  and  with  wild  flower-beds  the  space  be 
tween  the  hall-door  and  the  waters  of  the  Pee- 
dee ;  and  in  a  few  minutes,  as  we  gaze  over  the 
expanse  of  fields  marked  by  the  deep  water-cuts, 
and  bounded  by  a  fringe  of  unceasing  forest,  just 
tinged  with  green  by  the  first  life  of  the  early 
rice  crops,  the  chimneys  of  the  steamer  we  had 
left  at  Georgetown,  gliding  as  it  were  through 
the  fields,  indicate  the  existence  of  another  navi 
gable  river  still  beyond. 

Leaving  the  verandah  which  commanded  this 
agreeable  foreground,  we  enter  the  mansion,  and 
are  reminded  by  its  low-browed,  old-fashioned 
rooms,  of  the  country  houses  yet  to  be  found  in 
parts  of  Ireland  or  on  the  Scottish  border,  with 
additions,  made  by  the  luxury  and  love  of  foreign 
travel,  of  more  than  one  generation  of  educated 
Southern  planters.  Paintings  from  Italy  illus 
trate  the  walls,  in  juxta-position  with  interesting 
portraits  of  early  colonial  governors  and  their 
womankind,  limned  with  no  uncertain  hand,  and 
full  of  the  vigour  of  touch  and  naturalness  of 
drapery,  of  which  Copley  has  left  us  too  few  ex 
emplars  ;  and  one  portrait  of  Benjamin  West 
claims  for  itself  such  honour  as  his  own  pencil 
can  give.  An  excellent  library — filled  with  col- 
lections  of  French  and  English  classics,  and  with 


those  ponderous  editions  of  Voltaire,  Rousseau, 
the  "  Me'moires  pour  Servir,"  books  of  travel  and 
history  which  delighted  our  forefathers  in  the 
last  century,  and  many  works  of  American  and 
general  history — affords  ample  occupation  for  a 
rainy  day. 

It  was  five  o'clock  before  we  reached  our  plant 
er's  house — White  House  Plantation.  My  small 
luggage  was  carried  into  my  room  by  an  old  ne 
gro  in  livery,  who  took  great  pains  to  assure  me 
of  my  perfect  welcome,  and  who.turned  out  to  be 
a  most  excellent  valet.  A  low  room  hung  with 
coloured  mezzotints,  windows  covered  with  creep 
ers,  and  an  old-fashioned  bedstead  and  quaint 
chairs,  lodged  me  sumptuously;  and  after  such 
toilette  as  was  considered  necessary  by  our  host 
for  a  bachelor's  party,  we  sat  down  to  an  excel 
lent  dinner,  cooked  by  negroes  and  served  by  ne 
groes,  and  aided  by  claret  mellowed  in  Carolinian 
suns,  and  bv  Madeira  brought  down  stairs  cau 
tiously,  as  in  the  days  of  Horace  and  Maecenas, 
from  the  cellar  between  the  attic  and  the  thatched 
roof. 

Our  party  was  increased  by  a  neighboring 
planter,  and  after  dinner  the  conversation  re 
turned  to  the  old  channel — all  the  frogs  praying 
for  a  king — anyhow  a  prince — to  rule  over  them. 
Our  good  host  is  anxious  to  get  away  to  Europe, 
where  his  wife  and  children  are,  and  all  he  fears 
is  being  mobbed  at  New  York,  where  Southerners 
are  exposed  to  insult,  though  they  may  get  off 
better  in  that  respect  than  Black  Republicans 
would  down  South.  Some  of  our  guests  talked 
of  the  duello,  and  of  famous  hands  with  the  pistol 
in  these  parts.  The  conversation  had  altogether 
very  much  the  tone  which  would  have  probably 
characterized  the  talk  of  a  group  of  Tory  Irish 
gentlemen  over  their  wine  some  sixty  years  ago, 
and  very  pleasant  it  was.  Not  a  man — no,  not 
one — will  ever  join  the  Union  again!  "Thank 
God !"  they  say,  "we  are  freed  from  that  tyranny 
at  last."  And  yet  Mr.  Seward  calls  it  the  most 
beneficent  government  in  the  world,  which  never 
hurt  a  human  being  yet ! 

But  alas !  all  the  good  things  which  the  house 
affords,  can  be  enjoyed  but  for  a  brief  season. 
Just  as  nature  has  expanded  every  charm,  devel 
oped  every  grace,  and  clothed  the  scene  with  all 
the  beauty  of  opened  flower,  of  ripening  grain, 
and  of  mature  vegetation,  on  the  wings  of  the 
wind  the  poisoned  breath  comes  borne  to  the 
home  of  the  white  man,  and  he  must  fly  before 
it  or  perish.  The  books  lie  unopened  on  the 
shelves,  the  flower  blooms  and  dies  unheeded, 
and,  pity  'tis,  'tis  true,  the  old  Madeira  garnered 
'neath  the  roof,  settles  down  for  a  fresh  lease  of 
life,  and  sets  about  its  solitary  task  of  acquiring 
a  finer  flavour  for  the  infrequent  lips  of  its  ban 
ished  master  and  his  welcome  visitors.  This  is 
the  story,  at  least,  that  we  hear  on  all  sides,  and 
such  is  the  tale  repeated  to  us  beneath  the  porch, 
when  the  moon,  while  softening,  enhances  the 
loveliness  of  the  scene,  and  the  rich  melody  of 
mocking-birds  fills  the  grave. 

Within  these  hospitable  doors  Horace  might 
banquet  better  than  he  did  with  Nasidienus,  and 
drink  such  wine  as  can  be  only  found  among  the 
descendants  of  the  ancestry  who,  improvident 
enough  in  all  else,  learnt  the  wisdom  of  bottling 
up  choice  old  Bual  and  Sercial,  ere  the  demon 
of  oiclium  had  dried  up  their  generous  sources 
for  ever.  To  these  must  be  added  excellent 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


65 


bread,  ingenious  varieties  of  the  galette,  com 
pounded  now  of  rice  and  now  of  Indian  meal, 
delicious  butter  and  fruits,  all  good  of  their  kind. 
And  is  there  anything  better  rising  up  from  the 
bottom  of  the  social  bowl  ?  My  black  friends 
who  attend  on  me  are  grave  as  Mussulman 
Khitmutgars.  They  are  attired  in  liveries  and 
wear  white  cravats  and  Berlin  gloves.  At  night 
when  we  retire,  off  they  go  to  their  outer  dark 
ness  in  the  small  settlement  of  negro -hood, 
which  is  separated  from  our  house  by  a  wooden 
palisade.  Their  fidelity  is  undoubted.  The 
house  breathes  an  air  of  security.  The  doors 
and  windows  are  unlocked.  There  is  but  one 
gun,  a  fowling-piece,  on  the  premises.  No  plant 
er  hereabouts  has  any  dread  of  his  slaves.  But 
I  have  seen,  within  the  short  time  I  have  been 
in  this  part  of  the  world,  several  dreadful  ac 
counts  of  murder  and  violence,  in  which  masters 
suffered  at  the  hands  of  their  slaves.  There  is 
something  suspicious  in  the  constant  never-end 
ing  statement  that  "  we  are  not  afraid  of  our 
slaves."  The  curfew  and  the  night  patrol  in  the 
streets,  the  prisons  and  watch-houses,  and  the 
police  regulations,  prove  that  strict  supervision, 
at  all  events,  is  needed  and  necessary.  My  host 
is  a  kind  man  and  a  good  master.  If  slaves  are 
happy  anywhere,  they  should  be  so  with  him. 

These  people  are  fed  by  their  master.  They 
have  half  a  pound  per  diem  of  fat  pork,  and  corn 
in  abundance.  They  rear  poultry  and  sell  their 
chickens  and  eggs  to  the  house.  They  are 
clothed  by  their  master.  He  keeps  them  in  sick 
ness  as  in  health.  Now  and  then  there  are  gifts 
of  tobacco  and  molasses  for  the  deserving.  There 
was  little  labour  going  on  in  the  fields,  for  the 
rice  has  been  just  exerting  itself  to  get  its  head 
above  water.  These  fields  yield  plentifully ;  the 
waters  of  the  river  are  fat,  and  they  are  let  in 
whenever  the  planter  requires  it  by  means  of 
floodgates  and  small  canals  through  which  the 
flats  can  carry  their  loads  of  grain  to  the  river 
for  loading  the  steamers. 

April  2'3rd. — A  lovely  morning  grew  into  a 
hot  day.  After  breakfast,  I  sat  in  the  shade 
watching  the  vagaries  of  some  little  tortoises,  or 
terrapins,  in  a  vessel  of  water  close  at  hand,  or 
trying  to  follow  the  bee-like  flight  of  the  hum 
ming-birds.  Ah  me !  one  wee  brownie,  with  a 
purple  head  and  red  facings,  managed  to  dash 
into  a  small  grape  or  flower  conservatory  close 
at  hand,  and,  innocent  of  the  ways  of  the  glassy 
wall,  he  or  she — I  am  much  puzzled  as  to  the 
genders  of  humming-birds,  and  Mr.  Gould,  with 
his  wonderful  mastery  of  Greek  prefixes  and 
Latin  terminations,  has  not  aided  me  much — 
dashed  up  and  down  from  pane  to  pane,  seeking 
to  perforate  each  with  its  bill,  and  carrying  death 
and  destruction  among  the  big  spiders  and  their 
cobweb  castles  which  for  the  time  barred  the  way. 

The  humming-bird  had,  as  the  Yankees  say, 
a  bad  time  of  it,  for  its  efforts  to  escape  were  in 
cessant,  and  our  host  said  tenderly,  through  his 
moustaches,  "  Pooty  little  thing,  don't  frighten 
it !"  as  if  he  was  quite  sure  of  getting  off  to  Sax 
ony  by  the  next  steamer.  Encumbered  by  cob 
webs  and  exhausted, -«ow  and  then  our  little 
friend  toppled  down  among  the  green  shrubs, 
and  lay  panting  like  a  living  nugget  of  ore. 
Again  he,  she,  or  it  took  wing  and  resumed  that 
mad  career ;  but  at  last  on  some  happy  turn  the 
bright  head  saw  an  opening  through  the  door, 


and  out  wings,  body,  and  legs  dashed,  and  sought 
shelter  in  a  creeper,  where  the  little  flutterer  lay, 
all  but  dead,  so  inanimate  indeed,  that  I  could 
have  taken  the  lovely  thing  and  put  it  in  the  hol 
low  of  my  hand.  What  would  poets  of  Greece 
and  Rome  have  said  of  the  humming-bird  ?  What 
would  Hafiz,  or  Waller,  or  Spenser  have  sung, 
had  they  but  seen  that  offspring  of  the  sun  and 
flowers  ? 

Later  in  the  day,  when  the  sun  was  a  little  less 
fierce,  we  walked  out  from  the  belt  of  trees  round 
the  house  on  the  plantation  itself.  At  this  time 
of  the  year  there  is  nothing  to  recommend  to  the 
eye  the  great  breadth  of  flat  fields,  surrounded 
by  small  canals,  which  look  like  the  bottoms  of 
dried-up  ponds,  for  the  green  rice  has  barely  suc 
ceeded  in  forcing  its  way  above  the  level  of  the 
rich  dark  earth.  The  river  bounds  the  estate, 
and  when  it  rises  after  the  rains,  its  waters,  load 
ed  with  loam  and  fertilising  mud,  are  let  in  upon, 
the  lands  through  the  small  canals,  which  are 
provided  with  sluices  and  banks  and  floodgates 
to  control  and  regulate  the  supply. 

The  negroes  had  but  little  to  occupy  them 
now.  The  children  of  both  sexes,  scantily  clad, 
were  fishing  in  the  canals  and  stagnant  waters, 
pulling  out  horrible-looking  little  catfish.  They 
were  so  shy  that  they  generally  fled  at  our  ap 
proach.  The  men  and  women  were  apathetic, 
neither  seeking  nor  shunning  us,  and  I  found 
that  their  master  knew  nothing  about  them.  It 
is  only  the  servants  engaged  in  household  duties 
who  are  at  all  on  familiar  terms  with  their  mas 
ters. 

The  bailiff  or  steward  was  not  to  be  seen. 
One  big  slouching  negro,  who  seemed  to  be  a 
gangsman  or  something  of  the  kind,  followed  us 
in  our  walk,  and  answered  any  questions  we  put 
to  him  very  readily.  It  was  a  picture  to  see  his 
face  when  one  of  our  party,  on  returning  to  the 
house,  gave  him  a  larger  sum  of  money  than  he 
had  ever  probably  possessed  before  in  a  lump. 
"  What  will  he  do  with  it  ?"  Buy  sweet  things, 
— sugar,  tobacco,  a  penknife,  and  such  things. 
"They  have  few  luxuries,  and  all  their  wants 
are  provided  for."  Took  a  cursory  glance  at  the 
negro  quarters,  which  are  not  very  enticing  or 
cleanly.  They  are  surrounded  by  high  palings, 
and  the  entourage  is  alive  with  their  poultry. 

Very  much  I  doubt  whether  Mr.  Mitchell  is 
satisfied  the  Southerners  are  right  in  their  pres 
ent  course,  but  he  and  Mr.  Petigru  are  lawyers, 
and  do  not  take  a  popular  view  of  the  question. 
After  dinner  the  conversation  again  turned  on 
the  resources  and  power  of  the  South,  and  on 
the  determination  of  the  people  never  to  go  back 
into  the  Union.     Then  cropped  out  again  the 
expression  of  regret  for  the  rebellion  of  1776,  and 
the  desire  that  if  it  came  to  the  worst,  England  1 
would  receive  back  her  erring  children,  or  gire  1 
them  a  prince  under  whom  they  could  secure  a 
monarchical  form  of  government.     There  is  no   : 
doubt  about  the  earnestness  with  which  these  / 
things  are  said. 

As  the  "Nina"  starts  down  the  river  on  her 
return  voyage  from  Georgetown  to-night,  and 
Charleston  Harbour  may  be  blockaded-  at  any 
time,  thus  compelling  us  to  make  a  long  detour 
by  land,  I  resolve  to  leave  by  her,  in  spite  of 
many  invitations  and  pressure  from  neighbour 
ing  planters.  At  midnight  our  carriage  came 
round,  and  we  started  in  a  lovely  moonlight  to 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Georgetown,  crossing  the  ferry  after  some  de 
lay,  in  consequence  of  the  profound  sleep  of  the 
boatmen  in  their  cabins.  One  of  them  said  to 
me,  "Musn't  go  too  near  de  edge  ob  de  boat, 
massa."  "Why  not?"  "Becas  if  massa  fall 
ober,  he  not  come  up  agin  likely, — a  bad  ribber 
for  drowned,  massa."  He  informed  me  it  was 
full  of  alligators,  which  are  always  on  the  look 
out  for  the  planters'  and  negroes'  dogs,  and  are 
hated  and  hunted  accordingly. 

The  "Nina"  was  blowing  the  signal  for  de 
parture,  the  only  sound  we  heard  all  through  the 
night,  as  we  drove  through  the  deserted  streets 
of  Georgetown,  and  soon  after  three  o'clock,  A.M., 
we  were  on  board  and  in  our  berths. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Climate  of  the  Southern  States— General  Beauregard— 
Risk*  of  the  post-office— Hatred  of  New  England — By 
railway  to  Sea  Island  plantation — Sporting  in  South 
Carolina — An  hour  on  board  a  canoe  in  the  dark. 

April  24:th. — In  the  morning  we  found  our 
selves  in  chopping  little  sea-way  for  which  the 
"Nina"  was  particularly  unsuited,  laden  as  she 
was  with  provisions  and  produce.  Eyes  and 
glasses  anxiously  straining  seawards  for  any  trace 
of  the  blockading  vessels.  Every  sail  scrutinised, 
but  no  '  stars  and  stripes'  visible. 

Our  captain — a  good  specimen  of  one  of  the 
inland-water  navigators,  shrewd,  intelligent,  and 
active — told  me  a  good  deal  about  the  country. 
He  laughed  at  the  fears  of  the  whites  as  regards 
the  climate.  "Why,  here  am  I," said  he,  "go 
ing  up  the  river,  and  down  the  river  all  times 
of  the  year,  and  at  times  of  day  and  night  when 
they  re'ckon  the  air  is  most  deadly,  and  I've  done 
so  for  years  without  any  bad  effects.  The  plant 
ers  whose  houses  I  pass  all  run  away  in  May, 
and  go  off  to  Europe,  or  to  the  piney  wood,  or  to 
the  springs,  or  they'd  all  die.  There's  Captain 
Buck,  who  lives  above  here, — he  comes  from  the 
State  of  Maine.  He  had  only  a  thousand  dol 
lars  to  begin  with,  but  he  sets  to  work  and  gets 
land  on  the  Maccamaw  River  at  twenty  cents  an 
acre.  It  was  death  to  go  nigh  it,  but  it  was 
first-rate  rice  land,  and  Captain  Buck  is  now 
worth  a  million  of  dollars.  He  lives  on  his 
estate  all  the  year  round,  and  is  as  healthy  a 
man  as  ever  you  seen." 

To  such  historiettes  my  planting  friends  turn 
a  deaf  ear.  "I  tell  you  what,"  said  Fringle, 
"just  to  show  you  what  kind  our  climate  is.  I 
had  an  excellent  overseer  once,  who  would  in 
sist  on  staying  near  the  river,  and  wouldn't  go 
away.  He  fought  against  it  for  more  than  five- 
and-twenty  years,  but  he  .went  down  with  fever 
at  last."  As  the  overseer  was  more  than  thirty 
years  of  age  when  he  came  to  the  estate,  he  had 
not  been  cut  off  so  very  suddenly.  I  thought  of 
the  quack's  advertisement  of  the  "bad  leg  of 
sixty  years  standing."  The  captain  says  the 
negroes  on  the  river  plantations  are  very  well 
off.  He  can  buy  enough  of  pork  from  the  slaves 
on  one  plantation  to  last  his  ship's  crew  for  the 
whole  winter.  The  money  goes  to  them,  as  the 
hogs  5tre  their  own.  One  of  the  stewards  on 
board  had  bought  himself  and  his  family  out  of 
.bondage  with  his  earnings.  The  State  in  gen 
eral,  however,  does  not  approve  of  such  practices. 

At  three  o'clock,  P.M.,  rail  into  Charleston 
harbour,  and  landed  BOOH  afterwards. 


I  saw  General  Beauregard  in  the  evening  ;  he 
was  very  lively  and  in  good  spirits,  though  he 
admitted  he  was  rather  surprised  by  the  spirit 
displayed  in  the  North.  "A  good  deal  of  it  is 
got  up,  however, "he  said,  "and  belongs  to  that 
washy  sort  of  enthusiasm  which  is  promoted  by 
their  lecturing  and  spouting."  Beauregard  is 
very  proud  of  his  personal  strength,  which  for  his 
slight  frame  is  said  to  be  very  extraordinary,  and 
he  seemed  to  insist  on  it  that  the  Southern  men 
had  more  physical  strength,  owing  to  their  mode 
of  life  and  their  education,  than  their  Northern 
"  brethren."  In  the  evening  held  a  sort  of  tabaks 
consilium  in  the  hotel,  where  a  number  of  officers 
—Manning,  Lucas,  Chesnut,  Calhoun,  &c. — dis 
coursed  of  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  All  my 
friends,  except  Trescot,  I  think  were  elated  at 
the  prospect  of  hostilities  with  the  North,  and 
overjoyed  that  a  South  Carolina  regiment  had 
already  set  out  for  the  frontiers  of  Virginia. 

April  25th. — Sent  off  my  letters  by  an  English 
gentleman,  who  was  taking  despatches  from  Mr. 
Bunch  to  Lord  Lyons,  as  the  post-office  is  be 
coming  a  dangerous  institution.  We  hear  of  let 
ters  being  tampered  with  on  both  sides.  Adams's 
Express  Company,  which  acts  as  a  sort  of  ex 
press  post  under  certain  conditions,  is  more  trust 
worthy  ;  but  it  is  doubtful  how  long  communica 
tions  will  be  permitted  to  exist  between  the  two 
hostile  nations,  as  they  may  now  be  considered. 

Dined  with  Mr.  Petigru,  who  had  most  kindly 
postponed  his  dinner  party  till  my  return  from 
the  plantations,  and  met  there  General  Beaure 
gard,  Judge  King,  and  others,  among  whom,  dis 
tinguished  for  their  esprit  and  accomplishments, 
were  Mrs.  King  and  Mrs.  Carson,  daughters  of 
my  host.  The  dislike,  which  seems  innate,  to 
New  England  is  universal,  and  varies  only  in 
the  form  of  its  expression.  It  is  quite  true  Mr. 
Petigru  is  a  decided  Unionist,  but  he  is  the  sole 
specimen  of  the  genus  in  Charleston,  and  he  is 
tolerated  on  account  of  his  rarity.  As  the  wit 
ty,  pleasant  old  man  trots  down  the  street,  utter 
ly  unconscious  of  the  world  around  him,  he  is 
pointed  out  proudly  by  the  Carolinians  as  an  in 
stance  of  forbearance  on  their  part,  and  as  a 
proof  at  the  same  time  of  popular  unanimity  of 
sentiment. 

There  are  also  people  who  regret  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Union — such  as  Mr.  Huger,  who  shed 
tears  in  talking  of  it  the  other  night ;  but  they 
regard  the  fact  very  much  as  they  would  the 
demolition  of  some  article  which  can  never  be 
restored  and  reunited,  which  was  valued  for  the 
uses  it  rendered  and  its  antiquity. 

General  Beauregard  is  apprehensive  of  an  at 
tack  by  the  Northern  "fanatics"  before  the  South 
is  prepared,  and  he  considers  they  will  carry  out 
coercive  measures  most  rigorously.  He  dreads 
the  cutting  of  the  levees,  or  high  artificial  works, 
raised  along  the  whole  course  of  the  Mississippi, 
for  many  hundreds  of  miles  above  New  Orleans, 
which  the  Federals  may  resort  to  in  order  to 
drown  the  plantations  and  ruin  the  planters. 

We  had  a  good-humoured  argument  in  the 
evening  about  the  ethics  of  burning  the  Norfolk 
navy  yard.  The  Southerners  consider  the  ap 
propriation  of  the  arms,  moneys,  and  stores  of 
the  United  States  as  rightful  acts,  inasmuch  as 
they  represent,  according  to  them,  their  contribu 
tion,  or  a  portion  of  it,  to  the  national  stock  in 
trade.  When  a  State  goes  out  of  the  Union  she 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


57 


should  be  permitted  to  carry  her  forts,  arma 
ments,  arsenals,  &c.,  along  with  her,  and  it  was 
a  burning  shame  for  the  Yankees  to  destroy  the 
property  of  Virginia  at  Norfolk.  These  ideas, 
and  many  like  them,  have  the  merit  of  novelty  to 
English  people,  who  were  accustomed  to  think 
there  were  such  things  as  the  Union  and  the 
people  of  the  United  States. 

April  26th. — Bade  good-by  to  Charleston  at 
9.45  a.m.  this  day,  and  proceeded  by  railway,  in 
company  with  Mr.  Ward,  to  visit  Mr.  Trescot's 
Sea  Island  Plantation.  Crossed  the  river  to  the 
terminus  in  a  ferry  steamer.  No  blockading 
vessels  in  sight  yet.  The  water  alive  with  small 
silvery  fish,  like  mullet,  which  sprang  up  and 
leaped  along  the  surface  incessantly.  An  old 
gentleman,  who  was  fishing  on  the  pier,  com 
bined  the  pursuit  of  sport  with  instruction  very 
ingeniously  by  means  of  a  fork  of  bamboo  in  his 
rod,  just  above  the  reel,  into  which  he  stuck  his 
inevitable  newspaper,  and  read  gravely  in  his 
cane-bottomed  chair  till  he  had  a  bite,  when  the 
fork  was  unhitched  and  the  fish  was  landed. 
The  negroes  are  very  much  addicted  to  the  con 
templative  man's  recreation,  and  they  were  fish 
ing  in  all  directions. 

On  the  move  again.  Took  our  places  in  the 
Charleston  and  Savannah  Railway  for  Pocotali- 
go,  which  is  the  station  for  Barnwell  Island. 
Our  fellow-passengers  were  all  full  of  politics — 
the  pretty  women  being  the  fiercest  of  all — no  ! 
the  least  good-looking  were  the  most  bitterly 
patriotic,  as  if  they  hoped  to  talk  themselves  into 
husbands  by  the  most  unfeminine  expressions 
towards  the  Yankees. 

The  country  is  a  dead  flat,  perforated  by  riv 
ers  and  watercourses,  over  which  the  rail  is  car 
ried  on  long  and  lofty  trestle-work.  But  for  the 
fine  trees,  the  magnolias  and  live  oak,  the  land 
scape  would  be  unbearably  hideous,  for  there  are 
none  of  the  quaint,  cleanly,  delightful  villages  of 
Holland  to  relieve  the  monotonous  level  of  rice 
swamps  and  wastes  of  land  and  water  and  mud. 
At  the  humble  little  stations  there  were  invari 
ably  groups  of  horsemen  waiting  under  the  trees, 
and  ladies  with  their  black  nurses  and  servants 
who  had  driven  over  in  the  odd-looking  old- 
fashioned  vehicles  which  were  drawn  up  in  the 
shade.  Those  who  were  going  on  a  long  jour 
ney,  aware  of  the  utter  barrenness  of  the  land, 
took  with  them  a  viaticum  and  bottles  of  milk. 
The  nurses  and  slaves  squatted  down  by  their 
side  in  the  train,  on  perfectly  well-understood 
terms.  No  one  objected  to  their  presence — on 
the  contrary,  the  passengers  treated  them  with  a 
certain  sort  of  special  consideration,  and  they 
were  on  the  happiest  terms  with  their  charges, 
some  of  which  were  in  the  absorbent  condition 
of  life,  and  dived  their  little  white  faces  against 
the  tawny  bosom  of  their  nurses  with  anything 
but  reluctance. 

The  train  stopped,  at  12.20,  at  Pocotaligo ; 
and  there  we  found  Mr.  Trescot  and  a  couple 
of  neighbouring  planters,  famous  as  fishers  for 
' '  drum,  "of  which  more  by-and-bye.  I  had  met 
old  Mr.  Elliot  in  Charleston,  and'his  account  of 
this  sport,  and  of  the  pursuit  of  an  enormous  sea 
monster  called  the  devil-fish,  which  he  was  one 
of  the  first  to  kill  in  these  waters,  excited  my 
curiosity  very  much.  Mr.  Elliot  has  written  a 
most  agreeable  account  of  the  sports  of  South 
Carolina,  and  I  had  hoped  he  would  have  been 


well  enough  to  have  been  my  guide,  philosopher, 
and  friend  in  drum  fishing  in  Port  Royal;  but 
he  sent  over  his  son  to  say  that  he  was  too  un 
well  to  come,  and  had  therefore  dispatched  most 
excellent  representatives  in  two  members  of  his 
family.  It  was  arranged  that  they  should  row 
down  from  their  place  and  meet  us  to-morrow 
morning  at  Trescot's  Island,  which  lies  above 
Beaufort,  in  Port  Royal  Sound  and  river. 

Got  into  Trescot's  gig,  and  plunged  into  a 
shady  lane  with  wood  on  each  side,  through 
which  we  drove  for  some  distance.  The  coun 
try,  on  each  side  and  beyond,  perfectly  flat — all 
rice  lands — few  houses  visible* — scarcely  a  human 
being  on  the  road  —  drove  six  or  seven  miles 
without  meeting  a  soul.  After  a  couple  of  hours 
or  so,  I  should  think,  the  gig  turned  up  by  an 
open  gateway  on  a  path  or  road  made  through  a 
waste  of  rich  black  mud,  "glorious  for  rice," 
and  landed  us  at  the  door  of  a  planter,  Mr  Hey- 
ward,  who  came  out  and  gave  us  a  most  hearty 
welcome,  in  the  true  Southern  style.  His  house 
is  charming,  surrounded  with  trees,  and  covered 
with  roses  and  creepers,  through  which  birds  and 
butterflies  are  flying,  Mr.  Hayward  took  it  as 
a  matter  of  course  that  we  stopped  to  dinner, 
which  we  were  by  no  means  disinclined  to  do,  as 
the  day  was  hot,  the  road  was  dusty,  and  his  re 
ception  frank  and  kindly.  A  fine  specimen  of 
the  planter  man  ;  and,  minus  his  broad-brimmed 
straw  hat  and  loose  clothing,  not  a  bad  repre 
sentative  of  an  English  squire  at  home. 

Whilst  we  were  sitting  in  the  porch,  a  strange 
sort  of  booming  noise  attracted  my  attention  in 
one  of  the  trees.  "  It  is  a  rain-crow,"  said  Mr. 
Hey  ward ;  "a  bird  which  we  believe  to  foretell 
rain.  I'll  shoot  it  for  you."  And,  going  into 
the  hall,  he  took  down  a  double-barreled  fowl 
ing-piece,  walked  out,  and  fired  into  the  tree  ; 
whence  the  rain-crow,  poor  creature,  fell  flutter 
ing  to  the  ground  and  died.  It  seemed  to  me  a 
kind  of  cuckoo  —  the  same  size,  but  of  darker 
plumage.  I  could  gather  no  facts  to  account 
for  the  impression  that  it's  call  is  a  token  of  rain. 

My  attention  was  also  called  to  a  curious  kind 
of  snake-killing  hawk,  or  falcon,  which  makes  an 
extraordinary  noise  by  putting  its  wings  point 
upwards,  close  together,  above  its  back,  so  as  to 
offer  no  resistance  to  the  air,  and  then,  beginning 
to  descend  from  a  great  height,  with  fast-increas 
ing  rapidity,  makes,  by  its  rushing  through  the 
air,  a  strange  loud  hum,  till  it  is  near  the  ground, 
when  the  bird  stops  its  downward  swoop  and  flies 
in  a  curve  over  the  meadow.  This  I  saw  two 
of  these  birds  doing  repeatedly  to-night. 

After  dinner,  at  which  Mr.  Heyward  express 
ed  some  alarm  lest  Secession  would  deprive  the 
Southern  States  of  "ice,"  we  continued  our  jour 
ney  towards  the  river.  There  is  still  a  remark 
able  absence  of  population  or  life  along  the  road, 
and  even  the  houses  are  either  hidden  or  lie  too 
far  off  to  be  seen.  The  trees  are  much  admired 
by  the  people,  though  they  would  not  be  thought 
much  of  in  England. 

At  length,  towards  sundown,  having  taken  to 
a  track  by  a  forest,  part  of  which  was  burning, 
we  came  to  a  broad  muddy  river,  with  steep  clay 
banks.  A  canoe  was  lying  in  a  little  harbour 
formed  by  a  slope  in  the  bank,  and  four  stout 
negroes,  who  were  seated  round  a  burning  log, 
engaged  in  smoking  and  eating  oysters,  rose  as 
we  approached,  and  helped  the  party  into  the 


58 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


"dug-out,"  or  canoe,  a  narrow,  long,  and  heavy 
boat,  with  wall  sides  arid  a  flat  floor.  A  row  of 
one  hour,  the  latter  part  of  it  in  darkness,  took 
us  to  the  verge  of  Mr.  Trescot's  estate,  Barnwell 
Island ;  and  the  oarsmen,  as  they  bent  to  their 
task,  beguiled  the  way  by  singing  in  unison  a 
real  negro  melody,  which  was  as  unlike  the  works 
of  the  Ethiopian  Serenaders  as  anything  in  song 
could  'be  unlike  another.  It  was  a  barbaric  sort 
of  madrigal,  in  which  one  singer  beginning  was 
followed  by  the  others  in  unison,  repeating  the 
refrain  in  "chorus,  and  full  of  quaint  expression 
and  melancholy:  — 

"  Oh,  your  soul !  oh,  my  soul !  I'm  going  to  the  church 
yard  to  lay  this  body  down  ; 

Oh,  my  soul !  oh,  your  soul !  we're  going  to  the  church 
yard  to  lay  this  nigger  down." 

And  then  some  appeal  to  the  difficulty  of  passing 
"the  Jawdam,"  constituted  the  whole  of  the 
song,  which  continued  with  unabated  energy 
during  the  whole  of  the  little  "voyage.  To  me 
it  was  a  strange  scene.  The  stream,  dark  as 
Lethe,  flowing  between  the  silent,  houseless,  rug 
ged  banks,  lighted  up  near  the  landing  by  the 
fire  in  the  woods,  which  reddened  the  sky — the 
wild  strain,  aud  the  unearthly  adjurations  to  the 
singers'  souls,  as  though  they  were  palpable,  put 
me  in  mind  of  the  fancied  voyage  across  the 
Styx. 

"Here  v/e  are  at  last."  All  I  could  see  was 
a  dark  shadow  of  trees  and  the  tops  of  rushes 
by  the  river  side.  "Mind  where  you  step,  and 
follow  me  close."  And  so,  groping  along  through 
a  thick  shrubbery  for  a  short  space,  I  came  out 
on  a  garden  and  enclosure,  in  the  midst  of  which 
the  white  outlines  of  a  house  were  visible.  Lights 
in  the  drawing-room — a  lady  to  receive  and  wel 
come  us — a  snug  library — tea,  and  to  bed :  but 
not  without  more  talk  about  the  Southern  Con 
federacy,  in  which  Mrs.  Trescot  explained  how 
easily  she  could  feed  an  army,  from  her  experi 
ence  in  feeding  her  negroes. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Domestic  negroes  —  Negro  oarsmen  —  Off  to  the  fishing- 
grounds  -=-Tlie  devil-fish -— Bad  sport  —  The  drum-fish 
— Negro«quarters — Want  of  drainage  —  Thievish  pro 
pensities  of  the  blacks— A  Southern  estimate  of  South 
erners. 

April  27tk. — Mrs.  Trescot,  it  seems,  spent  part 
of  her  night  in  attendance  on  a  young  gentleman 
of  colour,  who  was  introduced  into  the  world  in 
a  state  of  servitude  by  his  poor  chattel  of  a  moth 
er.  Such  kindly  acts  as  these  are  more  common 
than  we  may  suppose ;  and  it  would  be  unfair  to 
put  a  strict  or  unfair  construction  on  the  motives 
of  slave  owners  in  paying  such  attention  to  their 
property.  Indeed,  as  Mrs.  Trescot  says,  "When 
people  talk  of  my  having  so  many  slaves,  I  al 
ways  tell  them  it  is  the  slaves  who  own  me. 
Morning,  noon,  and  night,  I'm  obliged  to  look 
after  them,  to  doctor  them,  and  attend  to  them 
in  every  way."  Property  has  its  duties,  you  see, 
madam,  as  well  as  its  rights. 

The  planter's  house  is  quite  new,  and  was  built 
by  himself;  the  principal  material  being  wood, 
and  most  of  the  work  being  done  by  his  own  ne- 
;roes.  Such  work  as  window-sashes  and  panel- 
jngs,  however,  was  executed  in  Charleston.  A 
pretty  garden  runs  at  the  back,  and  from  the 
windows  there  are  wide  stretches  of  cotton-fields 
visible,  and  glimpses  of  the  river  to  be  seen. 


After  breakfast  our  little  party  repaired  to  the 
river-side,  and  sat  under  the  shade  of  some  noble 
rees  waiting  for  the  boat  which  was  to  bear  us  to 
the  fishing-grounds.  The  wind  blew  up  stream, 
i-unning  with  the  tide,  and  we  strained  our  eyes 
in  vain  for  the  boat.  The  river  is  here  nearly  a 
mile  across, — a  noble  estuary  rather, — with  low 
aanks  lined  with  forests,  into  which  the  axe  has 
made  deep  forays  and  clearings  for  cotton-fields. 

It  would  have  astonished  a  stray  English  trav 
eller,  if,  penetrating  the  shade,  he  heard  in  such 
an  out-of-the-way  place  familiar  names  and 
things  spoken  of  by  the  three  lazy  persons  who 
were  stretched  out — cigar  in  mouth — on  the  ant- 
haunted  trunks  which  lay  prostrate  by  the  sea 
shore.  Mr.  Trescot  spent  some  time  in  London 
as  attache  to  the  United  States  Legation,  Avas  a 
club  man,  and  had  a  large  circle  of  acquaintance 
among  the  young  men  about  town,  of  whom  he 
remembered  many  anecdotes  and  peculiarities, 
and  little  adventures.  Since  that  time  he  was 
Under- Secretary  of  State  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  ad 
ministration,  and  went  out  with  Secession.  He 
is  the  author  of  a  very  agreeable  book  on  a  diy 
subject,  "The  History  of  American  Diplomacy," 
which  is  curious  enough  as  an  unconscious  ex 
position  of  the  anti-British  jealousies,  and  even 
antipathies,  which  have  animated  American 
statesmen  since  they  were  created.  In  fact, 
much  of  American  diplomacy  means  hostility  to 
England,  and  the  skilful  employment  of  the  anti- 
British  sentiment  at  their  disposal  in  their  own 
country  and  elsewhere.  Now  he  was  talking 
pleasantly  of  people  he  had  met — many  of  them 
mutual  friends. 

' '  Here  is  the  boat  at  last ! "  I  had  been  sweep 
ing  the  broad  river  with  my  glass  occasionally, 
and  at  length  detected  a  speck  on  its  broad  sur 
face  moving  down  towards  us,  with  a  white  dot 
marking  the  foam  at  its  bows.  Spite  of  wind 
and  tideway,  it  came  rapidly,  and  soon  approach 
ed  us,  pulled  by  six  powerful  negroes,  attired  in 
red  flannel  jackets  and  white  straw  hats  with 
broad  ribands.  The  craft  itself — a  kind  of  mon 
ster  canoe,  some  forty-five  feet  long,  narrow, 
wall-sided,  with  high  bow  and  raised  stern — lay 
deep  in  the  water,  for  there  were  extra  negroes 
for  the  fishing,  servants,  baskets  of  provisions, 
water  buckets,  stone  jars  of  less  innocent  drink 
ing,  and  abaft  there  was  a  knot  of  great  strong 
planters — Elliots  all — cousins,  uncles,  and  broth 
ers.  A  friendly  hail  as  they  swept  up  alongside, 
— an  exchange  of  salutations. 

"  Well, Trescot,  have  you  got  plenty  of  crabs?" 
A  groan  burst  forth  at  his  insouciant  reply. 
He  had  been  charged  to  find  bait,  and  he  had 
told  the  negroes  to  do  so,  and  the  negroes  had 
not  done  so.  The  fishermen  looked  grievously 
at  each  other,  and  fiercely  at  Trescot,  who  as 
sumed  an  air  of  recklessness,  and  threw  doubts 
on  the  existence  of  fish  in  the  river,  and  resorted 
to  similar  miserable  subterfuges ;  indeed,  it  was 
subsequently  discovered  that  he  was  an  utter  in 
fidel  in  regard  to  the  delights  of  piscicapture. 

' '  Now,  all  aboard  !  Over,  you  fellows,  and 
take  these  gentlemen  in !"  The  negroes  were 
over  in  a  moment,  waist  deep,  and,  each  taking 
one  on  his  back,  deposited  us  dry  in  the  boat.  I 
only  mention  this  to  record  the  fact,  that  I  was 
much  impressed  by  a  practical  demonstration 
from  my  bearer  respecting  the  strong  odour  of 
the  skin  of  a  heated  African.  I  have  been 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


59 


wedged  up  in  a  column  of  infantry  on  a  hot  day, 
and  have  marched  to  leeward  of  Ghoorkhas  in 
India,  but  the  overpowering  pungent  smell  of  the 
negro  exceeds  everything  of  the  kind  I  have  been 
unfortunate  enough  to  experience. 

The  vessel  was  soon  moving  again,  against  a 
ripple,  caused  by  the  wind,  •  which  blew  dead 
against  us ;  and  notwithstanding  the  praises  be 
stowed  on  the  boat,  it  was  easy  to  perceive  that 
the  labour  of  pulling  such  a  dead-log-like  thing 
through  the  water  told  severely  on  the  rowers, 
who  had  already  come  some  twelve  miles,  I  think. 
Nevertheless,  they  were  told  to  sing,  and  they  be 
gan  accordingly  one  of  those  wild  Baptist  chants 
about  the  Jordan  in  which  they  delight, — not 
destitute  of  music,  but  utterly  unlike  what  is  call 
ed  an  Ethiopian  melody. 

The  banks  of  the  river  on  both  sides  are  low ; 
on  the  left  covered  with  wood,  through  which, 
here  and  there,  at  intervals,  'one  could  see  a 
planter's  or  overseer's  cottage.  The  course  of 
this  great  combination  of  salt  and  fresh  water 
sometimes  changes,  so  that  houses  are  swept 
away  and  plantations  submerged ;  but  the  land 
is  much  valued  nevertheless,  on  account  of  the 
fineness  of  the  cotton  grown  among  the  islands. 
"  Cotton  at  12  cents  a  pound,  and  we  don't  fear 
the  world." 

As  the  boat  was  going  to  the  fishing-ground, 
which  lay  towards  the  mouth  of  the  river  at  Hil 
ton  Head,  our  friends  talked  politics  and  sport 
ing  combined, — the  first  of  the  usual  character, 
the  second  quite  new. 

I  heard  much  of  the  mighty  devil-fish  which 
frequents  these  waters.  One  of  our  party,  Mr. 
Elliot,  sen.,  a  tall,  knotty,  gnarled  sort  of  man, 
with  a  mellow  eye  and  a  hearty  voice,  was  a 
famous  hand  at  the  sport,  and  had  had  some 
hair-breadth  escapes  in  pursuit  of  it.  The  fish 
is  described  as  of  enormous  size  and  strength,  a 
monster  ray,  which  possesses  formidable  anten 
nae-like  horns,  and  a  pair  of  huge  fins,  or  flap 
pers,  one  of  which  rises  above  the  water  as  the 
creature  moves  below  the  surface.  The  hunt 
ers,  as  they  may  be  called,  go  out  in  parties — 
three  or  four  boats,  or  more,  with  good  store  of 
sharp  harpoons  and  tow-lines,  and  lances.  When 
they  perceive  the  creature,  one  boat  takes  the 
lead,  and  moves  down  towards  it,  the  others  fol 
lowing,  each  with  a  harpooner  standing  in  the 
bow.  The  devil-fish  sometimes  is  wary,  and 
dives,  when  it  sees  a  boat,  taking  such  a  long 
spell  below  that  it  is  never  seen  again.  At  other 
times,  however,  it  backs,  and  lets  the  boat  come 
so  near  as  to  allow  of  the  harpooner  striking  it, 
or  it  dives  for  a  short  way  and  comes  up  near 
the  boats  again.  The  moment  the  harpoon  is 
fixed,  the  line  is  paid  out  by  the  rush  of  the 
creature,  which  is  made  with 'tremendous  force, 
and  all  the  boats  at  once  hurry  up,  so  that  one 
after  another  they  are  made  fast  to  that  in  which 
the  lucky  sportsman  is  seated.  At  length,  when 
the  line  is  run  out,  checked  from  time  to  time  as 
much  as  can  be  done  with  safety,  the  crew  take 
their  oars  and  follow  the  course  of  the  ray,  which 
swims  so  fast,  however,  that  it  keeps  the  line 
taught,  and  drags  the  whole  flotilla  seawards. 
It  depends  on  its  size  and  strength  to  determ 
ine  how  soon  it  rises  to  the  surface ;  by  degrees 
the  line  is  warped  in  and  hove  short  till  the 
boats  are  brought  near,  and  when  the  ray  comes 
up  it  is  attacked  with  a  shower  of  lances  and 


harpoons,  and  dragged  off  into  shoal  water  to 
die. 

On  one  occasion,  our  Nimrod  told  us,  he  was 
standing  in  the  bows  of  the  boat,  harpoon  in 
hand,  when  a  devil-fish  came  up  close  to  him  ; 
he  threw  the  harpoon,  struck  it,  but  at  the  same 
time  the  boat  ran  against  the  creature  with  a 
shock  which  threw  him  right  forward  on  its 
back,  and  in  an  instant  it  caught  him  in  its  hor 
rid  arms  and  plunged  down  with  him  to  the 
depths.  Imagine  the  horror  of  the  moment ! 
Imagine  the  joy  of  the  terrified  drowning,  dying 
man,  when,  for  some  inscrutable  reason,  the 
devil-fish  relaxed  its  grip,  and  enabled  him  to 
strike  for  the  surface,  where  he  was  dragged 
into  the  boat  more  dead  than  alive  by  his  terror- 
smitten  companions, — the  only  man  who  ever 
got  out  of  the  embraces  of  the  thing  alive. 
"  Tom  is  so  tough  that  even  the  devil-fish  could 
make  nothing  out  of  him." 

At  last  we  cajne  to  our  fishing-ground.  There 
was  a  substitute  found  for  the  favourite  crab,  and 
it  was  fondly  hoped  our  toils  might  be  rewarded 
with  success.  And  these  were  toils,  for  the  wa 
ter  is  deep  and  the  lines  heavy.  But  to  alleviate 
them,  some  hampers  were  produced  from  the 
stern,  and  wonderful  pies  from  Mrs.  Trescot's 
hands,  and  from  those  of  fair  ladies  up  the  river 
whom  we  shall  never  see,  wrere  spread  out,  and 
bottles  which  represented  distant  cellars  in  friend 
ly  nooks  far  away.  "No  drum  here!  Up  an 
chor,  and  pull  away  a  few  miles  lower  down." 
Trescot  shook  his  head,  and  again  asserted  his 
disbelief  in  fishing,  or  rather  in  catching,  and  in 
deed  made  a  sort  of  pretence  at  arguing  that  it 
was  wiser  to  remain  quiet  and  talk  philosophical 
politics ;  but,  as  judge  of  appeal,  I  gave  it  against 
him,  and  the  negroes  bent  to  their  oars,  and  we 
went  thumping  through  the  spray,  till,  rounding 
a  point  of  land,  we  saw  pitched  on  the  sandy 
shoi*e  ahead  of  us,  on  the  right  bank,  a  tent,  and 
close  by  two  boats.  "There  is  a  party  at  it!" 
A  fire  was  burning  on  the  beach,  and  as  we  came 
near,  Tom  and  Jack  and  Harry  were  successive 
ly  identified.  "There's  no  take  on,  or  they 
would  not  be  on  shore.  This  is  very  unfor 
tunate." 

All  the  regret  of  my  friends  was  on  my  ac 
count,  so  to  ease  their  minds  I  assured  them  I 
did  not  mind  the  disappointment  much.  ' '  Hallo, 
Dick !  Caught  any  drum  ?"  "A  few  this  morn 
ing  ;  bad  sport  now,  and  will  be  till  tide  turns 
again."  I  was  introduced  to  all  the  party  from 
a  distance,  and  presently  I  saw  one  of  them  rais 
ing  from  a  boat  something  in  look  and  shape  and 
colour  like  a  sack  of  flour,  which  he  gave  to  a 
negro,  who  proceeded  to  carry  it  towards  us  in 
a  little  skiff.  "Thank  you,  Charley.  I  just 
want  to  let  Mr.  Russell  see  a  drum-fish."  And  a 
very  odd  fish  it  was, — a  thick  lumpish  form,  about 
4J  feet  long,  with  enormous  head  and  scales,  and 
teeth  like  the  grinders  of  a  ruminant  animal,  act 
ing  on  a  great  pad  of  bone  in  the  roof  of  the 
mouth, — a  very  unlovely  thing,  swollen  with  roe, 
which  is  the  great  delicacy. 

"No  chance  till  the  tide  turned," — but  that 
would  be  too  late  for  our  return,  and  so  unwill 
ingly  we  were  compelled  to  steer  towards  home, 
hearing  now  and  then  the  singular  noise  lik'e  the 
tap  on  a  large  unbi'aced  drum,  from  which  the 
fish  takes  its  name.  At  first,  when  I  heard  it, 
I  was  inclined  to  think  it  was  made  by  some  one 


60 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


in  the  boat,  so  near  and  close  did  it  sound ;  but 
soon  it  came  from  all  sides  of  us,  and  evidently 
from  the  depths  of  the  water  beneath  us, — not  a 
sharp  rat-tat-tap,  but  a  full  muffled  blow  with  a 
heavy  thud  on  the  sheepskin.  Mr.  Trescot  told 
me  that  on  a  still  evening  by  the  river-side  the 
effect  sometimes  is  most  curious, — the  rolling 
and  pattering  is  audible  at  a  great  distance.  Our 
friends  were  in  excellent  humour  with  every 
thing  and  everybody,  except  the  Yankees,  though 
they  had  caught  no  fish,  and  kept  the  negroes  at 
singing  and  rowing  till  at  nightfall  we  landed  at 
the  island,  and  so  to  bed  after  supper  and  a  little 
conversation,  in  which  Mrs.  Trescot  again  ex 
plained  how  easily  she  could  maintain  a  battal 
ion  on  the  island  by  her  simple  commissariat, 
already  adapted  to  the  niggers,  and  that  it  would 
therefore  be  very  easy  for  the  South  to  feed  an 
army  if  the  people  were  friendly. 

April  28th. — The  church  is  a  long  way  off, 
only  available  by  a  boat  and  then  a  drive  in  a 
carriage.  In  the  morning  a  child  brings  in  my 
water  and  boots  —  an  intelligent,  curly-headed 
creature,  dressed  in  a  sort  of  sack,  without  any 
particular  waist,  barefooted.  I  imagined  it  was 
a  boy  till  it  told  me  it  was  a  girl.  I  asked  if  she 
was  going  to  church,  which  seemed  to  puzzle 
her  exceedingly;  but  she  told  me  finally  she 
would  hear  prayers  from  "uncle"  in  one  of  the 
cottages.  The  use  of  the  words  "uncle"  and 
"aunt"  for  old  people  is  very  general.  Is  it  be 
cause  they  have  no  fathers  and  mothers  ?  In  the 
course  of  the  day,  the  child,  who  was  fourteen 
or  fifteen  years  of  age,  asked  me  "whether  I 
would  not  buy  her.  .She  could  wash  and  sew 
very  well,  and  she  thought  missus  wouldn't  want 
much  for  her."  The  object  she  had  in  view 
leaked  out  at  last.  It  was  a  desire  to  see  the 
glories  of  Beaufort,  of  which  she  had  heard  from 
the  fishermen ;  and  she  seemed  quite  wonder- 
struck  when  she  was  informed  I  did  not  live 
there,  and  had  never  seen  it.  She  had  never 
been  outside  the  plantation  in  her  life. 

After  breakfast  we  loitered  about  the  grounds, 
strolling  through  the  cotton-fields,  which  had  as 
yet  put  forth  no  bloom  or  flower,  and  coming 
down  others  to  the  thick  fringes  of  wood  and 
sedge  bordering  the  marshy  banks  of  the  island. 
The  silence  was  profound,  broken  only  by  the 
husky  mid-day  crowing  of  the  cocks  in  the  negro 
quarters. 

In  the  afternoon  I  took  a  short  drive  "  to  see 
a  tree,"  which  was  not  very  remarkable,  and 
looked  in  at  the  negro  quarters  and  the  cotton 
mill.  The  old  negroes  were  mostly  indoors,  and 
came  shambling  out  to  the  doors  of  their  wooden 
cottages,  making  clumsy  bows  at  our  approach, 
but  not  expressing  any  interest  or  pleasure  at 
the  sight  of  their  master  and  the  strangers.  They 
were  shabbily  clad ;  in  tattered  clothes,  bad  straw 
hats  and  felt  bonnets,  and  broken  shoes.  The 
latter  are  expensive  articles,  and  negroes  cannot 
dig  without  them.  Trescot  sighed  as  he  spoke 
of  the  increase  of  price  since  the  troubles  broke 
out. 

The  huts  stand  in  a  row,  like  a  street,  each  de 
tached,  with  a  poultry-house  of  rude  planks  be 
hind  it.  The  mutilations  which  the  poultry  un 
dergo  for  the  sake  of  distinction  are  striking. 
Some  are  deprived  of  a  claw,  others  have  the  wat 
tles  cut,  and  tails  and  wings  suffer  in  all  ways. 
No  attempt  at  any  drainage  or  any  convenience 


existed  near  them,  and  the  same  remark  applies 
to  very  good  houses  of  white  people  in  the  south. 
Heaps  of  oyster-shells,  broken  crockery,  old  shoes, 
rags,  and  feathers  were  found  near  each  hut. 
The  huts  were-all  alike  windowlcss,  and  the  aper 
tures,  intended  to  be  glazed  some  fine  day,  were 
generally  filled  up  with  a  deal  board.  The  roofs 
were  shingle,  and  the  whitewash  which  had  once 
given  the  settlement  an  air  of  cleanliness,  was 
!  now  only  to  be  traced  by  patches  which  had  es- 
!  caped  the  action  of  the  rain.  I  observed  that 
i  many  of  the  doors  were  fastened  by  a  padlock 
land  chain  outside.  "Why  is  that?"  "The 
j  owners  have  gone  out,  and  honesty  is  not  a  vir 
tue  they  have  towards  each  other.  They  would 
find  their  things  stolen  if  they  did  not  lock  their 
doors."  Mrs.  Trescot,  however,  insisted  on  it 
that  nothing  could  exceed  the  probity  of  the 
slaves  in  the  house,  except  in  regard  to  sweet 
things,  sugar  and  the  like;  but  money  and  jew 
els  were  quite  safe.  It  is  obvious  that  some  rea 
son  must  exist  for  this  regard  to  the  distinctions 
twixt  meum  and  tuum  in  the  case  of  masters 
and  mistresses,  when  it  does  not  guide  their  con 
duct  towards  each  other,  and  I  think  it  might 
easily  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  negroes  could 
scarcely  take  money  without  detection.  Jewels 
and  jewellery  would  be  of  little  value  to  them  ; 
they  could  not  wear  them,  could  not  part  with 
them.  The  system  has  made  the  white  poj.ula- 
tion  a  police  against  the  black  race,  and  the  pun 
ishment  is  not  only  sure  but  grievous.  Such 
things  as  they  can  steal  from  each  other  are  not 
to  be  so  readily  traced. 

One  particularly  dirty-looking  little  hut  was 
described  to  me  as  "the  church."  It  was  about 
fifteen  feet  square,  begrimed  with  dirt  and  smoke, 
and  windowless.  A  few  benches  were  placed 
across  it,  and  "the  preacher, "a  slave  from  an 
other  plantation,  was  expected  next  week.  These 
preachings  are  not  encouraged  in  many  planta 
tions.  They  "  do  the  niggers  no  good" — "they 
talk  about  things  that  are  going  on  elsewhere, 
and  get  their  minds  unsettled,"  and  so  on. 

On  our  return  to  the  house,  I  found  that  Mr. 
Edmund  Rhett,  one  of  the  active  and  influential 
political  family  of  that  name,  had  called — a  very 
intelligent  and  agreeable  gentleman,  but  one  of 
the  most  ultra  and  violent  speakers  against  the 
Yankees  I  have  yet  heard.  He  declared  there 
were  few  persons  in  South  Carolina  who  would 
not  sooner  ask  great  Britain  to  take  back  the 
State  than  submit  to  the  triumph  of  the  Yan 
kees.  "  We  are  an  agricultural  people,  pursuing 
our  own  system,  and  working  out  our  own  des 
tiny,  breeding  up  women  and  men  with  some 
other  purpose  than  to  make  them  vulgar,  fanati 
cal,  cheating  Yankees — hypocritical,  if  as  women 
they  pretend  to  real  virtue  ;  and  lying,  if  as  men 
they  pretend  to  be  honest.  We  have  gentlemen 
and  gentlewomen  in  your  sense  of  it.  We  have 
a  system  which  enables  us  to  reap  the  fruits  of 
the  earth  by  a  race  which  we  save  from  barbar 
ism  in  restoring  them  to  their  real  place  in  the 
world  as  laborers,  whilst  we  arc  enabled  to  cul 
tivate  the  arts,  the  graces,  and  accomplishments 
of  life,  to  develop  science,  to  apply  ourselves  to 
the  duties  of  government,  and  to  understand  the 
affairs  of  the  country." 

This  is  a  very  common  line  of  remark  here. 
The  Southerners  also  take  pride  to  themselves, 
and  not  unjustly,  for  their  wisdom  in  keeping  in 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


61 


Congress  those  men  who  have  proved  themselves 
useful  and  capable.  "We  do  not, );  they  say, 
4 'cast  able  men  aside  at  the  caprices  of  a  mob, 
or  in  obedience  to  some  low  party  intrigue,  and 
hence  we  are  sure  of  the  best  men,  and  are  served 
by  gentlemen  conversant  with  public  affairs,  far 
superior  in  every  way  to  the  ignorant  clowns  who 
are  sent  to  Congress  by  the  North.  Look  at  the 
fellows  who  are  sent  out  by  Lincoln  to  insult 
foreign  courts  by  their  presence."  I  said  that  I 
understood  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Drayton  were 
very  respectable  gentlemen,  but  I  did  not  receive 
any  sympathy ;  in  fact,  a  neutral  who  attempts 
to  moderate  the  violence  of  either  side,  is  very 
like  an  ice  between  two  hot  plates.  Mr.  Rhett  is 
also  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Chancellor  sfts  on 
a  cotton-bale.  ''You  must  recognise  us,  sir,  be 
fore  the  end  of  October."  In  the  evening  a  dis 
tant  thunder-storm  attracted  me  to  the  garden, 
and  I  remained  out  watching  the  broad  flashes 
and  sheets  of  fire  worthy  of  the  tropics  till  it  was 
bed-time. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

By  railway  to  Savannah— Description  of  the  city — Ru 
mours  of  the  last  few  days— State  of  affairs  at  Washing 
ton— Preparations  for  war — Cemetery  of  Bonaventure — 
Road  made  of  oyster-shells — Appropriate  features  of  the 
Cemetery— The  Tatnall  family — Dinner-party  at  Mr. 
Green's — Feeling  in  Georgia  against  the  North. 

April2Qth. — This  morning  up  at  6  A.M.,  bade 
farewell  to  our  hostess  and  Barnwell  Island,  and 
proceeded  with  Trescot  back  to  the  Pocotaligo 
station,  which  we  reached  at  12.20.  On  our  way 
Mr.  Hey  ward  and  his  son  rode  out  of  a  field, 
looking  very  like  a  couple  of  English  country 
squires  in  all  but  hats  and  saddles.  The  young 
gentleman  was  good  enough  to  bring  over  a  snake 
hawk  he  had  shot  for  me.  At  the  station,  to 
which  the  Heywards  accompanied  us,  were  the 
Elliots  and  others,  who  had  come  over  with  in 
vitations  and  adieux ;  and  I  beguiled  the  time 
to  Savannah  reading  the  very  interesting  book 
by  Mr.  Elliot,  senior,  on  the  Wild  Sports  of  Caro 
lina,  which  was  taken  up  by  some  one  when  I  left 
the  car-carriage  for  n  moment  and  not  returned 
to  me.  The  country  through  which  we  passed 
was  flat  and  flooded  as  usual,  and  the  rail  passed 
over  dark  deep  rivers  on  lofty  trestle-work,  by 
pine  wood  and  dogwood  tree,  by  the  green  planta 
tion  clearing,  with  mud  hank,  dyke,  and  tiny 
canal  mile  by  mile,  the  train  stopping  for  the 
usual  freight  of  ladies,  and  negro  nurses,  and 
young  planters,  all  very  much  of  the  same  class, 
till  at  3  o'clock  P.M.,  the  cars  rattled  up  along 
side  a  large  shed,  and  we  were  told  we  had  ar 
rived  at  Savannah. 

Here  was  waiting  for  me  Mr.  Charles  Green, 
who  had  already  claimed  me  and  my  friend  as 
his  guests,  and  I  found  in  his  carriage  the  young 
American  designer,  who  had  preceded  me  from 
Charleston,  and  had  informed  Mr.  Green  of  my 
coming. 

The  drive  through  such  portion  of  Savannah 
as  lay  between  the  terminus  and  Mr.  Green's 
house,  soon  satisfied  my  eyes  that  it  had  two  pe 
culiarities.  In  the  first-place,  it  had  the  deepest 
sand  in  the  streets  I  have  ever  seen ;  and  next, 
the  streets  were  composed  of  the  most  odd, 
quaint,  green -windowed,  many- coloured  little 
houses  I  ever  beheld,  with  an  odd  population  of 
lean,  sallow,  ill  -  dressed  unwholesome  -  looking 


whites,  lounging  about  the  exchanges  and  cor 
ners,  and  a  busy,  well-clad,  gaily-attired  race  of 
negroes,  working  their  way  through  piles  of  chil 
dren,  under  the  shade  of  the  trees  which  border 
ed  all  the  streets.  The  fringe  of  green,  and  the 
height  attained  by  the  live  oak,  Pride  of  India, 
and  magnolia,  give  a  delicious  freshness  and 
novelty  to  the  streets  of  Savannah,  which  is  in 
creased  by  the  great  number  of  squares  and  open 
ings  covered  with  something  like  sward,  fenced 
round  by  white  rail,  and  embellished  with  noble 
trees  to  be  seen  at  every  few  hundred  yards.  It 
is  difficult  to  believe  you  are  in  the  midst  of  a 
city,  and  I  was  repeatedly  reminded  of  the  en 
virons  of  a  large  Indian  cantonment — the  same 
kind  of  churches  and  detached  houses,  with  their 
plantations  and  gardens  not  unlike.  The  wealthi 
er  classes,  however,  have  houses  of  the  New  York 
Fifth  Avenue  character  :  one  of  the  best  of  these, 
i  handsome  mansion  of  rich  red  sandstone,  be- 
ongcd  to  my  host,  who  coming  out  from  En- 
jland  many  years  ago,  raised  himself  by  industry 
and  intelligence  to  tlue  position  of  one  of  the  first 
merchants  in  Savannah.  Italian  statuary  graced 
the  hall ;  finely  carved  tables  and  furniture, 
stained  glass,  and  pictures  from  Europe  set  forth 
the  sitting-rooms ;  and  the  .luxury  of  bath-rooms 
and  a  supply  of  cold  fresh  water,  rendered  it  an 
exception  to  the  general  run  of  Southern  edifices. 
Mr.  Green  drove  me  through  the  town,  which  im 
pressed  me  more  than  ever  with  its  peculiar  char 
acter.  We  visited  Brigadier-General  Lawton, 
who  is  charged  with  the  defences  of  the  place 
against  the  expected  %  Yankees,  and  found  him 
just  setting  out  to  inspect  a  band  of  volunteers, 
whose  drums  we  heard  in  the  distance,  and  whose 
bayonets  were  gleaming  through  the  -clouds  of 
Savannah  dust,  close  to  the  statue  erected  to  the 
memory  of  one  Pulaski,  a  Pole,  who  was  mortal 
ly  wounded  in  the  unsuccessful  defence  of  the 
city  against  the  British  in  the  war  of  Independ 
ence.  He  turned  back  and  led  us  into  his  house. 
The  hall  was  filled  with  little  round  rolls  of 
flannel.  "These,"  said  he,  "are  cartridges  for 
cannon  of  various  calibres,  made  by  the  ladies 
of  Mrs.  Lawton's  '  cartridge  class.'  "  There  were 
more  cartridges  in  the  back  parlour,  so  that  the 
house  was  not  quite  a  safe  place  to  smoke  a  ci 
gar  in.  The  General  has  been  in  the  United 
States'  army,  and  has  now  come  forward  to  head 
the  people  of  this  State  in  their  resistance  to  the 
Yankees. 

We  took  a  stroll  in  the  park,  and  I  learned  the 
news  of  the  last  few  days.  The  people  of  the 
South,  I  find,  are  delighted  at  a  snubbing  which 
Mr.  Seward  has  given  to  Governor  Hicks  of 
Maryland,  for  recommending  the  arbitration  of 
Lord  Lyons,  and  he  is  stated  to  have  informed 
Governor  Hicks  that  "our  troubles  could  not  be 
referred  to  foreign  arbitration,  least  of  all  to  that 
of  the  representatives  of  a  European  monarchy." 
The  most  terrible  accounts  are  given  of  the  state 
of  things  in  Washington.  Mr.  Lincoln  consoles 
himself  for  his  miseries  by  drinking.  Mr.  Seward 
follows  suit.  The  White  House  and  capital  are 
full  of  drunken  border  ruffians,  headed  by  one 
Jim  Lane  of  Kansas.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Yankees,  under  one  Butler,  a  Massachusetts 
lawyer,  have  arrived  at  Annapolis,  in  Maryland, 
secured  the  "Constitution"  man-of-war,  and  are 
raising  masses  of  men  for  the  invasion  of  the 
South  all  over  the  States.  The  most  important 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


thing,  as  it  strikes  me,  is  the  proclamation  of  the 
Governor  of  Georgia,  forbidding  citizens  to  pay 
any  money  on  account  of  debts  due  to  North 
erners,  till  the  end  of  the  war.  General  Robert 
E.  Lee  has  been  named  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  Forces  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia, 
and  troops  are  flocking  to  that  State  from  Ala 
bama  and  other  States.  Governor  Ellis  has 
called  out  30,000  volunteers  in  North  Carolina, 
and  Governor  Rector  of  Arkansas  has  seized  the 
United  States'  military  stores  at  Napoleon. 
There  is  a  rumour  that  Fort  Fickens  has  been 
taken  also,  but  it  is  very  probably  untrue.  In 
Texas  and  Arkansas  the  United  States  regulars 
have  not  made  an  attempt  to  defend  any  of  the 
forts. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  warlike  work,  volun 
teers  drilling,  bands  playing,  it  was  pleasant  to 
walk  in  the  shady  park,  with  its  cool  fountains, 
and  to  see  the  children  playing  about — many  of 
them,  alas !  ' '  playing  at  soldiers" — in  charge  of 
their  nurses.  Returning,  sat  in  the  verandah 
and  smoked  a  cigar;  but  the  musquitoes  were 
very  keen  and  numerous.  My  host  did  not  mind 
them,  but  my  cuticle  will  never  be  sting-proof. 

April  30th. — At  1.30  P.M.,  a  small  party  start 
ed  from  Mr.  Green's  to  visit  the  cemetery  of  Bon- 
aventure,  to  which  every  visitor  to  Savannah 
must  pay  hrs  pilgrimage  ;  difficiles  aditus  primos 
kabet — a  deep  sandy  road  which  strains  the  horses 
and  the  carriages;  but  at  last  "the  shell  road" 
is  reached — a  highway  several  miles  long,  con 
sisting  of  oyster-shells — the  pride  of  Savannah, 
which  eats  as  many  oysters  as  it  can  to  add  to 
the  length  of  this  wonderful  road.  There  is  no 
stone  in  the  whole  of  the  vast  alluvial  ranges 
of  South  Carolina  and  Maritime  Georgia,  and 
the  only  substance  available  for  making  a  road 
is  the  oyster-shell.  There  is  a  toll-gate  at  each 
end  to  aid  the  oyster-shells.  Remember  they 
are  three  times  the  size  of  any  European  crus 
tacean  of  the  sort. 

A  pleasant  drive  through  the  shady  hedgerows 
and  bordering  trees  lead  to  a  dilapidated  porter's 
lodge  and  gateway,  within  which  rose  in  a  tower 
ing  mass  of  green  one  of  the  finest  pictures  of 
forest  architecture  possible  ;  nothing  to  be  sure 
like  Burnham  Beeches,  or  some  of  the  forest 
glades  of  Windsor,  but  possessed,  nevertheless, 
of  a  character  quite  its  own.  What  we  gazed 
upon  was,  in  fact,  the  ruin  of  grand  avenues  of 
live  oak,  so  well-disposed  that  their  peculiar 
mode  of  growth  afforded  an  unusual  develop 
ment  of  the  "Gothic  idea,"  worked  out  and  elab 
orated  by  a  superabundant  fall  from  the  over- 
lacing  arms  and  intertwined  branches  of  the  til- 
Ian  dsia,  or  Spanish  moss,  a  weeping,  drooping, 
plumaceous  parasite,  which  does  to  the  tree  what 
its  animal  type,  the  yellow  fever — vomito  prieto — 
does  to  man — clings  to  it  everlastingly,  drying 
up  sap,  poisoning  blood,  killing  the  principle  of 
life  till  it  dies.  The  only  differ,  as  they  say  in 
Ireland,  is,  that  the  tillandsia  all  the  time  looks 
very  pretty,  and  that  the  process  lasts  very  long. 
Some  there  are  who  praise  this  tillandsia,  hang 
ing  like  the  tresses  of  a  witch's  hair  over  an  in 
visible  face,  but  to  me  it  is  a  paltry  parasite, 
destroying  the  grace  and  beauty  of  that  it  preys 
upon,  and  letting  fall  its  dull  tendrils  over  the 
fresh  lovely  preen,  as  clouds  drop  over  the  face 
of  some  beautiful  landscape.  Despite  all  this, 
Bonaventure  is  a  scene  of  remarkable  interest ; 


it  seems  to  have  been  intended  for  a  place  of 
tombs.  The  Turks  would  have  filled  it  with 
turbaned  white  pillars,  and  with  warm  ghosts  at 
night.  The  French  would  have  decorated  it 
with  interlaced  hands  of  stone,  with  tears  of  red 
and  black  on  white  ground,  with  wreaths  of  im 
mortelles.  I  am  not  sure  that  we  would  have 
done  much  more  than  have  got  up  a  cemetery 
company,  interested  Shillibeer,  hired  a  beadle, 
and  erected  an  iron  paling.  The  Savannah  peo 
ple  not  following  any  of  these  fashions,  all  of 
which  are  adopted  in  Northern  cities,  have  left 
everything  to  nature  and  the  gatekeeper,  and  to 
the  owner  of  one  of  the  hotels,  who  has  got  up  a 
grave-yard  in  the  ground.  And  there,  scattered 
up  and  down  under  the  grand  old  trees,  which 
drop  tears  of  Spanish  moss,  and  weave  wreaths 
of  Spanish  moss,  and  shake  plumes  of  Spanish 
moss  over  them,  are  a  few  monumental  stones  to 
certain  citizens  of  Savannah.  There  is  a  mel 
ancholy  air  about  the  place  independently  of 
these  emblems  of  our  mortality,  which  might' rec 
ommend  it  specially  for  picnics.  There  never 
was  before  a  cemetery  where  nature  seemed  to 
aid  the  effect  intended  by  man  so  thoroughly. 
Every  one  knows  a  weeping  willow  will  cry  over 
a  wedding  party  if  they  sit  under  it,  as  well  as 
over, a  grave.  But  here  the  Spanish  moss  looks 
like  -weepers  wreathed  by  some  fantastic  hand 
out  of  the  crape  of  Dreamland.  Lucian's  Ghost- 
lander,  the  son  of  Skeleton  of  the  Tribe  of  the 
Juiceless,  could  tell  us  something  of  such  weird 
trappings.  They  are  known  indeed  as  the  best 
bunting  for  yellow  fever  to  fight  under.  Wher 
ever  their  flickering  horsehair  tresses  wave  in  the 
breeze,  taper  ends  downwards,  Squire  Black  Jack 
is  bearing  lance  and  sword.  One  great  green 
oak  says  to  the  other,  "This  fellow  is  killing  me. 
Take  his  deadly  robes  off  my  limbs!"  "Alas! 
See  how  he  is  ruining  me !  I  have  no  life  to 
help  you."  It  is,  indeed,  a  strange  and  very 
ghastly  place.  Here  are  so  many  querci  virentes, 
old  enough  to  be  strong,  and  big,  and  great,  sap- 
full,  lusty,  wide-armed,  green-honoured — all  dy 
ing  out  slowly  beneath  tillandsia,  as  if  they  were 
so  many  monarchies  perishing  of  decay — or  so 
many  youthful  republics  dying  of  buncombe  brag, 
richness  of  blood,  and  other  diseases  fatal  to  over 
grown  bodies  politic. 

The  void  left  in  the  midst  of  all  these  designed 
walks  and  stately  avenues,  by  the  absence  of  any 
suitable  centre,  increases  the  seclusion  and  soli 
tude.  A  house  ought  to  be  there  somewhere 
you  feel — in  fact  there  was  once  the  mansion  of 
the  Tatnalls,  a  good  old  English  family,  whose 
ancestors  came  from  the  old  country,  ere  the 
rights  of  man  were  talked  of,  and  lived  among 
the  Oglethorpes,  and  such  men  of  the  pigtail 
school,  who  would  have  been  greatly  astonished 
at  finding  themselves  in  company  with  Benja 
min  Franklin  or  his  kind.  I  don't  know  any 
thing  of  old  Tatnall.  Indeed  who  does?  But 
he  had  a  fine  idea  of  planting  trees,  which  he 
never  got  in  America,  where  he  would  have  re 
ceived  scant  praise  for  anything  but  his  power  to 
plant  cotton  or  sugar-cane  just  now.  In  his 
kneebreecb.es  and  top  boots,  I  can  fancy  the  old 
gentleman  reproducing  some  home  scene,  and 
boasting  to  himself,  "I  will  make  it  as  fine  as 
Lord  Nihilo's  park."  Could  he  see  it  now? — A 
decaying  army  of  the  dead.  The  mansion  was 
burned  down  during  a  Christmas  merrymaking, 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


63 


and  was  never  built  again,  and  the  young  trees 
have  grown  up  despite  the  Spanish  moss,  and 
now  they  stand,  as  it  were  in  cathedral  aisles, 
around  the  ruins  of  the  departed  house,  shading 
the  ground,  and  enshrining  its  memories  in  an 
antiquity  which  seems  of  the  remotest,  although 
it  is  not  as  ancient  as  that  of  the  youngest  oak  in 
the  Squire's  park  at  home. 

I  have  before  oftentimes  in  my  short  voyages 
here,  wondered  greatly  at  the  reverence  bestow 
ed  on  a  tree.  In  fact,  it  is  because  a  tree  of  any 
decent  growth  is  sure  to  be  older  than  anything 
else  around  it ;  and  although  young  America  rev 
els  in  her  future,  she  is  becoming  old  enough  to 
think  about  her  past. 

In  the  evening  Mr.  Green  gave  a  dinner  to 
some  very  agreeable  people,  Mr.  Ward,  the  Chi 
nese  Minister — (who  tried,  by-the-bye,  to  make 
it  appear  that  his  wooden  box  was  the  Pekin 
State  carriage  for  distinguished  foreigners) — Mr. 
Locke,  the  clever  and  intelligent  editor  of  the 
principal  journal  in  Savannah,  Brigadier  Law- 
ton,  one  of  the  Judges,  a  Britisher,  owner  of  the 
once  renowned  America  which,  under  the  name 
of  Camilla,  was  now  lying  in  the  river  (not  per 
haps  without  reference  to  a  little  speculation  in 
running  the  blockade,  hourly  expected),  Mr. 
Ward,  and  Commodore  Tatnall,  so  well  known 
to  us  in  England  for  his  gallant  conduct  in  the 
Peiho  affair,  when  he  offered  and  gave  our  ves 
sels  aid,  though  a  neutral,  and  uttered  the  excla 
mation  in  doing  so,  — in  his  despatch  at  all  events, 
— "that  blood  was  thicker  than  water."  Of  our 
party  was  also  Mr.  Hodgson,  well  known  to  most 
of  our  Mediterranean  travellers  some  years  back, 
when  he  was  United  States'  Consul  in  the  East. 
He  amuses  his  leisure  still  by  inditing  and  read 
ing  monographs  on  the  languages  of  divers  bar 
barous  tribes  in  Numidia  and  Mauritania. 

The  Georgians  are  not  quite  so  vehement  as 
the  South  Carolinians  in  their  hate  of  the  North 
erners  ;  but  they  are  scarcely  less  determined  to 
fight  President  Lincoln  and  all  his  men.  And 
that  is  the  test  of  this  rebellion's  strength.  I 
did  not  hear  any  profession  of  a  desire  to  become 
subject  to  England,  or  to  borrow  a  prince  of  us ; 
but  I  have  nowhere  seen  stronger  determination 
to  resist  any  reunion  with  the  New  England 
States.  "They  can't  conquer  us,  Sir?"  "If 
they  try  it,  we'll  whip  them." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  river  at  Savannah — Commodore  Tatnall — Fort  Pulas 
ki — Want  of  a  fleet  to  the  Southerners — Strong  feeling 
of  the  women — Slavery  considered  in  its  results — Cot 
ton  and  Georgia— Off  for  Montgomery— The  Bishop  of 
Georgia— The  Bible  and  Slavery— Macon— Dislike  of 
United  States'  gold. 

May  Lay. — Not  unworthy  of  the  best  effort  of 
English  fine  weather  before  the  change  in  the 
kalendar  robbed  the  poets  of  twelve  days,  but 
still  a  little  warm  for  choice.  The  young  Arn^r- 
ican  artist  Moses,  who  was  to  have  called  our 
party  to  meet  the  officers  who  were  going  to 
Fort  Pulaski,  for  some  reason  known  to  himself 
remained  on  board  the  Camilla,  and  when  at  last 
we  got  down  to  the  river-side  I  found  Commo 
dore  Tatnall  and  Brigadier  Lawton  in  full  uni 
form  waiting  for  me. 

The  river  is  about  the  width  of  the  Thames 
below  Graresend,  very  muddy,  with  a  strong  cur 


rent,  and  rather  fetid.  That  effect  might  have 
been  produced  from  the  rice-swamps  at  the  oth 
er  side  of  it,  where  the  land  is  quite  low,  and 
stretches  away  as  far  as  the  sea  in  one  level 
green,  smooth  as  a  billiard-cloth.  The  bank  at 
the  city  side  is  higher,  so  that  the  houses  stand 
on  a  little  eminence  over  the  stream,  affording 
convenient  wharfage  and  slips  for  merchant  ves 
sels. 

Of  these  there  were  few  indeed  visible — nearly 
all  had  cleared  out  for  fear  of  the  blockade ; 
some  coasting  vessels  were  lying  idle  at  the  quay 
side,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  stream  near  a 
floating  dock  the  Camilla  was  moored,  with  her 
club  ensign  flying.  These  are  the  times  for  bold 
ventures,  and  if  Uncle  Sam  is  not  veuy  quick  with 
his  blockades,  there  will  be  plenty  of  privateers 
and  the  like  under  C.  S.  A.  colours  looking  out 
for  his  fat  merchantmen  all  over  the  world. 

I  have  been  trying  to  persuade  my  friends  here 
they  will  find  very  few  Englishmen  willing  to 
take  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal. 

The  steamer  which  was  waiting  to  receive  us 
had  the  Confederate  flag  flying,  and  Commodore 
Tatnall,  pointing  to  a  young  officer  in  a  naval 
uniform,  told  me  he  had  just  "come  over  from 
the  other  side,"  and  that  he  had  pressed  hard  to 
be  allowed  to  hoist  a  Commodore  or  flag-officer's 
ensign  in  honour  of  the  visit  and  of  the  occasion. 
I  was  much  interested  in  the  fine  white-headed, 
blue-eyed,  ruddy-cheeked  old  man  —  who  sud 
denly  found  himself  blown  into  the  air  by  a  great 
political  explosion,  and  in  doubt  and  wonder 
ment  was  floating  to  shore,  under  a  strange  flag 
in  unknown  waters.  He  was  full  of  anecdote 
too,  as  to  strange  flags  in  distant  waters  and 
well-known  names.  The  gentry  *of  Savannah 
had  a  sort  of  Celtic  feeling  towards  him  in  re 
gard  of  his  old  name,  and  seemed  determined  to 
support  him. 

He  has  served  the  Stars  and  Stripes  for  three 
fourths  of  a  long  life  —  his  friends  are  in  the 
North,  his  wife's  kindred  are  there,  and  so  are 
all  his  best  associations — but  his  State  has  gone 
out.  How  could  he  fight  against  the  country 
that  gave  him  birth !  The  United  States  is  no 
country,  in  the  sense  we  understand  the  words. 
It  is  a  corporation  or  a  body  corporate  for  cer 
tain  purposes,  and  a  man  might  as  well  call  him 
self  a  native  of  the  common  council  of  the  city 
of  London,  or  a  native  of  the  Swiss  Diet,  in  the 
estimation  of  our  Americans,  as  say  he  is  a  citi 
zen  of  the  United  States ;  though  it  answers  very 
well  to  say  so  when  he  is  abroad,  or  for  purposes 
of  a  legal  character. 

Of  Fort  Pulaski  itself  I  wrote  on  my  return  a 
long  account  to  the  "Times." 

When  I  was  venturing  to  point  out  to  General 
Lawton  the  weakness  of  Fort  Pulaski,  placed  as 
it  is  in  low  land,  accessible  to  boats,  and  quite 
open  enough  for  approaches  from  the  city  side, 
he  said,  "Oh,  that  is  true  enough.  All  our  sea- 
coast  works  are  liable  to  that  remark,  but  the 
Commodore  will  take  care  of  the  Yankees  at  sea, 
and  we  shall  manage  them  on  land."  These 
people  all  make  a  mistake  in  referring  to  the 
events  of  the  old  war.  "We  beat  off  the  Brit 
ish  fleet  at  Charleston  by  the  militia — ergo,  we'll 
sink  the  Yankees  now."  They  do  not  under 
stand  the  nature  of  the  new  shell  and  heavy  ver 
tical  fire,  or  the  effect  of  projectiles  from  great 
distances  falling  into  open  works.  The  Com- 


64 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


modore  afterwards,  smiling,  remarked,  "I  have 
no  fleet.  Long  before  the  Southern  Confedera 
cy  has  a  fleet  that  can  cope  with  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  my  bones  will  be  white  in  the  grave." 

We  got  back  by  eight  o'clock  P.M.,  after  a 
pleasant  day.     What  I  saw  did  not  satisfy  me  j 
that  Pulaski  was  strong,  or  Savannah  very  safe,  j 
At  Bonaventure  yesterday  I  saw  a  poor  fort  call- ! 
ed  "Thunderbolt,"  on  an  inlet  from  which  the  i 
city  was  quite   accessible.     It  could  be  easily  j 
menaced  from  that  point,  while  attempts  at  land 
ing  were  made  elsewhere  as  soon  as  Pulaski  was  i 
reduced.    At  dinner  met  a  very  strong  and  very 
well  informed  Southerner — there  are  some  who  j 
are  neither — or  either — whose  name  was  spelled 
Gourdin  and  pronounced  Go-dine — just  as  Hu- 
ger  is  called  Hugee — and  Tagliaferro,  Telfer  in 
these  parts. 

May  2nd. — Breakfasted  with  Mr.  Hodgson, 
where  I  met  Mr.  Locke,  Mr.  Ward,  Mr.  Green, 
and  Mrs.  Hodgson  and  her  sister.  There  were 
in  attendance  some  good-looking  little  negro  j 
boys  and  men  dressed  in  liveries,  which  smacked  ! 
of  our  host's  Orientalism,  and  they  must  have 
heard  our  discussion,  or  rather  allusion,  to  the  | 
question  which  would  decide  whether  we  thought  j 
they  are  human  beings  or  black  two-legged  cat-  I 
tie,  with  some  interest,  unless  indeed  the  boast 
of  their  masters,  that  slavery  elevates  the  char 
acter  and  civilises  the  mind  of  a  negro,  is  anoth 
er  of  the  false  pretences  on  which  the  institution 
is  rested  by  its  advocates.  The  native  African, 
poor  wretch,  avoids  being  carried  into  slavery 
toils  viribus,  and  it  would  argue  ill  for  the  effect 
on  his  mind  of  becoming  a  slave  if  he  prefers  a 
piece  of  gaudy  calico  even  to  his  loin-cloth  and 
feather  head*-dress.  This  question  of  civilising 
the  African  in  slavery  is  answered  in  the  asser 
tion  of  the  slave-owners  themselves,  that  if  the 
negroes  were  left  to  their  own  devices  by  eman 
cipation,  they  would  become  the  worst  sort  of 
barbarians — a  veritable  Quasheedom,  the  like  of  I 
which  was  never  thought  of  by  Mr.  Thomas  Car- ! 
lyle.  I  doubt  if  the  aboriginal  is  not  as  civilised, 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  as  any  negro,  after 
three  degrees  of  descent  in  servitude,  whom  I 
have  seen  on  any  of  the  plantations  —  even 
though  the  latter  have  leather  shoes  and  fustian 
or  cloth  raiment,  and  felt  hat,  and  sings  about 
the  Jordan.  He  is  exempted  from  any  bloody 
raid  indeed,  but  he  is  liable  to  be  carried  from 
his  village  and  borne  from  one  captivity  to  an 
other,  and  his  family  are  exposed  to  the  same 
exile  in  America  as  in  Africa.  The  extreme 
anger  with  which  any  unfavourable  comment  is 
met  publicly,  shows  the  sensitiveness  of  the  slave 
owners.  Privately,  they  affect  philosophy ;  and 
the  blue  books,  and  reports  of  Education  Com 
missions  and  Mining  Committees,  furnish  them 
with  an  inexhaustible  source  of  argument  if  you 
once  admit  that  the  summum  bonum  lies  in  a  cer 
tain  rotundity  of  person  and  a  regular  supply  of 
coarse  food.  A  long  conversation  on  the  old 
topics — old  to  me,  but  of  only  a  few  weeks'  birth. 
People  are  swimming  with  the  tide.  Here  are 
many  men  who  would  willingly  stand  aside  if 
they  could,  and  see  the  battle  between  the  Yan 
kees,  whom  they  hate,  and  the  Secessionists. 
But  there  are  no  women  in  this  party.  Wo  be 
tide  the  Northern  Pyrrhus  whose  head  is  within 
reach  of  a  Southern  tile  and  a  Southern  wom 
an's  arm ! 


I  re-visited  some  of  the  big  houses  afterwards, 
and  found  the  merchants  not  cheerful,  but  fierce 
and  resolute.  There  is  a  considerable  popula 
tion  of  Irish  and  Germans  in  Savannah,  who  to 
a  man  are  in  favour  of  the  Confederacy,  and  will 
fight  to  support  it.  Indeed,  it  ig  expected  they 
will  do  so,  and  there  is  a  pressure  brought  to 
bear  on  them  by  their  employers  which  they  can-^ 
not  well  resist.  The  negroes  will  be  forced  into 
the  place  the  whites  hitherto  occupied  as  labour 
ers — only  a  few  useful  mechanics  will  be  kept, 
and  the  white  population  will  be  obliged  by  a 
moral  force  draughting  to  go  to  the  wars.  The 
kingdom  of  cotton  is  most  essentially  of  this 
world,  and  it  will  be  fought  for  vigorously.  On 
the  quays  of  Savannah,  and  in  the  warehouses, 
there  is  not  a  man  who  doubts  that  he  ought  to 
strike  his  hardest  for  it,  or  apprehends  failure. 
And  then,  what  a  career  is  before  them !  All 
the  world  asking  for  cotton,  and  England  de 
pendent  on  it.  What  a  change  since  Whitney 
first  set  his  cotton  gin  to  work  in  this  state  close 
by  us !  Georgia,  as  a  vast  country  only  partial- 
ly  reclaimed,  yet  looks  to  a  magnificent  future. 
In  her  past  history  the  Florida  wars,  and  the 
treatment  of  the  unfortunate  Cherokee  Indians, 
who  were  expelled  from  their  lands  as  late  as 
1838,  show  the  people  who  descended  from  old 
Oglethorpe's  band  were  fierce  and  tyrannical, 
and  apt  at  aggression,  nor  will  slavery  improve 
them.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  cultivated  and  hos 
pitable  citizens  of  the  large  towns,  but  of  the  bulk 
of  the  slaveless  whites. 

May  3?Y/. — I  bade  good-by  to  Mr.  Green,  who 
with  several  of  his  friends  came  down  to  see  me 
off,  at  the  terminus  or  "depot"  of  the  Central 
Railway,  on  my  way  to  Montgomery — and  look 
ed  my  last  on  Savannah,  its  squares  and  leafy 
streets,  its  churches,  and  institutes  with  a  feeling 
of  regret  that  I  could  not  see  more  of  them,  and 
that  I  was  forced  to  be  content  with  the  outer  as 
pect  of  the  public  buildings.  I  had  been  sere 
naded  and  invited  out  in  all  directions,  asked  to 
visit  plantations  and  big  trees,  to  make  excur 
sions  to  famous  or  beautiful  spots,  and  specially 
warned  not  to  leave  the  State  without  visiting 
the  mountain  district  in  the  northern  and  west 
ern  portion ;  but  the  march  of  events  called  me 
to  Montgomery. 

From  Savannah  to  Macon,  191  miles,  the  road 
passes  through  level  country  only  partially  clear 
ed.  That  is,  there  are  patches  of  forest  still  in 
truding  on  the  green  fields,  where  the  jagged 
black  teeth  of  the  destroyed  trees  rise  from  above 
the  maize  and  cotton.  There  were  but  few  ne 
groes  visible  at  work,  nor  did  the  land  appear 
rich,  but  I  was  told  the  rail  was  laid  along  the 
most  barren  part  of  the  country.  The  Indians 
had  roamed  in  these  woods  little  more  than  twen 
ty  years  ago — now  the  wooden  huts  of  the  plant 
ers'  slaves  and  the  larger  edifice  with  its  veran 
dah  and  timber  colonnade  stood  in  the  place  of 
their  wigwam. 

Among  the  passengers  to  whom  I  was  intro 
duced  was  the  Bishop  of  Georgia,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Elliott,  a  man  of  exceeding  fine  presence,  of  great 
stature,  and  handsome  face,  with  a  manner  easy 
and  graceful,  but  we  got  on  the  unfortunate  sub 
ject  of  slavery,  and  I  rather  revolted  at  hearing 
a  Christian  prelate  advocating  the  institution  on 
scriptural  grounds. 

This  application  of  biblical  sanction  and  ordi- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


65 


nance  as  the  basis  of  slavery  was  not  new  to  me, 
though  it  is  not  much  known  at  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  I  had  read  in  a  work  on  sla 
very,  that  it  was  permitted  by  both  the  Scriptures 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  it  must,  therefore,  bo  doubly  right.  A  na 
tion  that  could  approve  of  such  interpretations 
of  the  Scriptures  and  at  the  same  time  read  the 
"New  York  Herald,"  seemed  ripe  for  destruc 
tion  as  a  corporate  existence.  The  malum  pro- 
hibitum  was  the  only  evil  its  crass  senses  could 
detect,  and  the  malum  per  se  was  its  good,  if  it 
only  came  covered  with  cotton  or  gold.  The 
miserable  sophists  who  expose  themselves  toThlT 
cdnTempt  of  the  world  by  their  paltry  thesicle_s' 
on  the  divine  origin  and  uses  of  slavery,  are  in 
finitely  more  contemptible  than  the  wretched 
bigots  who  published  themes  long  ago  on  the 
propriety  of  burning  witches,  or  on.  the  necessity 
for  the  offices  of  the  Inquisition. 
"""vVhTnicver  the  Southern  Confederacy  shall 
achieve  its  independence — no  matter  what  its 
resources,  its  allies,  or  its  aims — it  will  have  to 
stand  face  to  face  with  civilized  Europe  on  this 
question  of  slavery,  and  the  strength  which  it  de 
rived  from  the  ajgis  of  the  Constitution — "the 
league  with  the  devil  and  covenant  with  Hell" 
— will  be  withered  and  gone. 

I  am  well  aware  of  the  danger  of  drawing 
summary  conclusions  off-hand  from  the  windows 
of  a  railway,  but  there  is  also  a  right  of  sight 
which  exists  under  all  circumstances,  and  so  one 
can  determine  if  a  man's  face  be  dirty  as  well 
from  a  glance  as  if  he  inspected  it  for  half  an 
hour.  For  instance,  no  one  can  doubt  the  evi 
dence  of  his  senses,  when  he  sees  from  the  win 
dows  of  the  carnages  that  the  children  are  bare 
footed,  shoeless,  stockingless  —  that  the  people 
who  congregate  at  the  wooden  huts  and  grog 
shops  of  the  stations  are  rude,  unkempt,  but  great 
fighting  material  too — that  the  villages  are  mis 
erable  places,  compared  with  the  trim,  snug  set 
tlements  one  saw  in  New  Jersey  from  the  car 
riage-windows.  Slaves  in  the  fields  looked  hap 
py  enough  —  but  their  masters  certainly  were 
rough-looking  and  uncivilised — and  the  land  was 
but  badly  cleared.  But  then  we  were  traversing 
the  least  fertile  portions  of  the  State — a  recent 
acquirement — gained  only  one  generation  since. 
The  train  halted  at  a  snug  little  wood-embow 
ered  restaurant,  surrounded  by  trellis  and  lattice 
work,  and  in  tho  midst  of  a  pretty  garden,  which 
presented  a  marked  contrast  to  the  "surround 
ings"  we  had  seen.  The  dinner,  served  by  slaves, 
was  good  of  its  kind,  and  the  charge  not  high. 
On  tendering  the  landlord  a  piece  of  gold  for 
payment,  he  looked  at  it  with  disgust,  and  asked, 
"Have  you  no  Charleston  money?  No  Con 
federate  notes?"  "  Well,  no  !  Why  do  you  ob 
ject  to  gold?"  "Well,  do  you  see,  I'd  rather 
have  our  own  paper !  I  don't  care  to  take  any 
of  the  United  States'  gold.  I  don't  want  their 
stars  and  their  eagles  ;  I  hate  the  sight  of  them." 
The  man  was  quite  sincere— my  companion  gave 
him  notes  of  some  South  Carolina  bank. 

It  was  dark  when  the  train  reached  Macon, 
one  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  State.  We 
drove  to  the  best  hotel,  but  the  regular  time  for 
dinner-hour  was  over,  and  that  for  supper  not 
yet  come.  The  landlord  directed  us  to  a  sub 
terranean  restaurant,  in  which  were  a  series  of 
crypts  closed  in  by  dirtv  curtains,  where  we  made 
E 


a  very  extraordinary  repast,  served  by  a  half-clad 
little  negress,  who  watched  us  at  the  meal  with 
great  interest  through  the  curtains  —  the  service 
was  of  the  coarsest  description  ;  thick  French 
earthenware,  the  spoons  of  pewter,  the  knives 
and  forks  steel  or  iron,  with  scarce  %:prelGxt^ttt;  ->^, 
being  cleaned.     On  the  door?  were  the  usual  ^^" 
warnings  against  pickpockets,  and  the  customa 
ry  internal  police  regulations  and  ukases.    Pick 
pockets  and  gamblers  abound  in  American  cities, 
and  thrive  greatly  at  tljt  large  hotels  mid  .^he- 
lines  of  railways.  >^ 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


Slave-pens  ;  Negroes  on  sale  or  hire  —  Popular  feeling  ns 
to  Secession  —  Beauregard  and  speech-making  —  Arrival 
at  Montgomery  —  Bad  hotel  accommodation—  Knights 
of  the  Golden  Circle  —  Reflections  on  Slavery  —  Slave 
auction—  The  Legislative  Assembly—  A  "live  chattel" 
knocked  down  —  Rumours  from  the  North  (true  and 
false)  and  prospects  of  war. 

May  1th.  —  In  the  morning  I  took  a  drive  about 
the  city,  which  is  loosely  built  in  detached  houses 
over  a  pretty  undulating  country  covered  with 
wood  and  fruit-trees.  Many  good  houses  of  daz 
zling  white,  with  bright  green  blinds,  verandahs, 
and  doors,  stand  in  their  own  grounds  or  gar 
dens.  In  the  course  of  the  drive  I  saw  two  or 
three  signboards  and  placards  announcing  that 
"  Smith  &  Co.  advanced  money  on  slaves,  and 
had  constant  supplies  of  Virginian  negroes  on 
sale  or  hire."  These  establishments  were  sur 
rounded  by  high  walls  enclosing  the  slave-pens 
or  large  rooms,  in  which  the  slaves  are  kept  for 
inspection.  The  train  for  Montgomery  started 
at  9  45  A.M.,  but  1  had  no  time  to  stop  and  visit 
them. 

It  is  evident  we  aVe  approaching  the  Confed 
erate  capital,  for  the  candidates  for  office  begin 
to  show,  and  I  detected  a  printed  testimonial  in 
my  room  in  the  hotel.  The  country,  from  Ma- 
con  in  Georgia  to  Montgomery  in  Alabama,,  of 
fers  no  features  to  interest  the  traveller  which 
are  not  common  to  the  districts  already  described. 
It  is,  indeed,  more  undulating,  and  somewhat 
more  picturesque,  or  less  unattractive,  but,  on  the 
whole,  there  is  little  to  recommend  it,  except  the 
natural  fertility  of  the  soil.  The  people  are  raw 
er,  ruder,  bigger  —  there  is  the  same  amount  of 
tobacco-chewing  and  its  consequences  —  and  as 
much  swearing  or  use  of  expletives.  The  men 
are  tall,  lean,  uncouth,  but  they  are  not  peasants. 
There  are,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  no  rustics,  no 
peasantry  in  America  ;  men  dress  after  the  same 
type,  differing  only  in  finer  or  coarser  material  ; 
every  man  would  wear,  if  he  could,  a  black  satin 
waistcoat  and  a  large  diamond  pin  stuck  in  the 
front  of  his  shirt,  as  he  certainly  has  a  watch  */ 
and  a  gilt  or  gold  chain  of  some  sort  or  other. 
The  Irish  labourer,  or  the  German  husbandman 
is  the  nearest  approach  to  our  Giles  Jolter  or  the 
Jacques  Bonhomme  to  be  found  in  the  States. 
The  mean  white  affects  the  style  of  the  large 
proprietor  of  slaves  or  capital  as  closely  as  he 
can  ;  he  reads  his  papers  —  and,  by-the-by,  they 
are  becoming  smaller  and  more  whitey-brown  a*s 
we  proceed  —  and  takes  his  drink  with  the  same 
air—  takes  up  as  much  room,  and  speaks  a  good 
deal  in  the  same  fashion. 

The  people  are  all  hearty  Secessionists  here— 
the  Bars  and  Stars  are  flying  at  the  road-stations 


66 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


and  from  the  pine-tops,  and  there  are  lusty 
cheers  for  Jeff  Davis  and  the  Southern  Confed 
eracy.  Troops  are  flocking  towards  Virginia 
from  the  Southern  States  in  reply  to  the  march 
of  Volunteers  from  Northern  States  to  Washing 
ton  ;  but  it  is  felt  that  the  steps  taken  by  the 
Federal  Government  to  secure  Baltimore  have 
obviated  any  chance  of  successfully  opposing  the 
"  Lincolnites"  going  through  that  city.  There 
is  a  strong  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  South 
erners  to  believe  they  have  many  friends  in  the 
North,  and  they  endeavour  to  attach  a  factious 
character  to  the  actions  of  the  Government  by 
calling  the  Volunteers  and  the  war  party  in  the 
North  "Lincolnites,"  ''Lincoln's  Mercenaries," 
"Black  Republicans,"  "Abolitionists,"  and  the 
like.  The  report  of  an  armistice,  now  denied 
by  Mr.  Seward  officially,  was  for  some  time  cur 
rent,  but  it  is  plain  that  the  South  must  make 
good  its  words,  and  justify  its  acts  by  the  sword. 
General  Scott  would,  it  was  fondly  believed,  re 
tire  from  the  United  States'  army,  and  either  re 
main  neutral  or  take  command  under  the  Con 
federate  flag,  but  now  that  it  is  certain  he  will 
not  follow  any  of  these  courses,  he  is  assailed  in 
the  foulest  manner  by  the  press  and  in  private 
conversation.  Heaven  help  the  idol  of  a  democ 
racy ! 

At  one  of  the  junctions  General  Beauregard, 
attended  by  Mr.  Manning,  and  others  of  his  staff, 
got  into  the  car,  and  tried  to  elude  observation, 
but  the  conductors  take  great  pleasure  in  unearth 
ing  distinguished  passengers  for  the  public,  and 
the  General  was  called  on  for  a  speech  by  the 
crowd  of  idlers.  The  General  hates  speech-mak 
ing,  he  told  me,  and  he  had  besides  been  bored 
to  death  at  every  station  by  similar  demands. 
But  a  man  must  be  popular  or  he  is  nothing. 
So,  as  next  best  thing,  Governor  Manning  made 
a  speech  in  the  General's  name,  in  which  he 
dwelt  on  Southern  Rights,  Sumter,  victory,  and 
abolitiondom,  and  was  carried  off  from  the  cheers 
of  his  auditors  by  the  train  in  the  midst  of  an 
unfinished  sentence.  There  were  a  number  of 
blacks  listening  to  the  Governor,  who  were  ap 
preciative. 

Towards  evening,  having  thrown  out  some 
slight  outworks  against  accidental  sallies  of  my 
fellow-passengers'  saliva,  I  went  to  sleep,  and 
woke  up  at  11  P.M.  to  hear  we  were  in  Mont 
gomery.  A  very  ricketty  omnibus  took  the  party 
to  the  hotel,  which  was  crowded  to  excess.  The 
General  and  his  friends  had  one  room  to  them 
selves.  Three  gentlemen  and  myself  were  cram 
med  into  a  filthy  room  which  already  contained 
two  strangers,  and  as  there  were  only  three  beds 
in  the  apartment  it  was  apparent  that  we  were 
intended  to  "double  up  considerably;"  but  aft 
er  strenuous  efforts,  a  little  bribery  and  cajoling, 
we  succeeded  in  procuring  mattresses  to  put  on 
the  floor,  which  was  regarded  by  our  neighbours 
as  a  proof  of  miserable  aristocratic  fastidiousness. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  flies,  the  fleas  would  have 
been  intolerable,  but  one  nuisance  neutralised  the 
other.  Then,  as  to  food — nothing  could  be  had 
in  the  hotel — but  one  of  the  waiters  led  us  to  a 
restaurant,  where  we  selected  from  a  choice  bill 
of  fare,  which  contained,  I  think,  as  many  odd 
dishes  as  ever  I  saw,  some  unknown  fishes,  oys 
ter-plants,  'possums,  racoons,  frogs,  and  other 
delicacies,  and,  eschewing  toads  and  the  like, 
really  made  a  good  meal  off  dirty  plates  on  a 


vile  table-cloth,  our  appetites  being  sharpened  by 
the  best  of  condiments. 

Colonel  Pickett  has  turned  up  here,  having 
made  his  escape  from  Washington  just  in  time 
to  escape  arrest — travelling  in  disguise  on  foot 
through  out-of-the-way  places  till  he  got  among 
friends. 

I  was  glad,  when  bed-time  approached,  that  I 
was  not  among  the  mattress  men.  One  of  the 
gentlemen  in  the  bed  next  the  door  was  a  tre 
mendous  projector  in  the  tobacco-juice  line :  his 
final  rumination  ere  he  sank  to  repose  was  a  mas 
terpiece  of  art — a  perfect  liquid  pyrotechny,  Ro 
man  candles  and  falling  stars.  A  horrid  thought 
occurred  as  I  gazed  and  wondered.  In  case  he 
should  in  a  supreme  moment  turn  his  attention 
my  way ! — I  was  only  seven  or  eight  yards  off, 
and  that  might  be  nothing  to  him ! — I  hauled 
down  my  musqnito  curtain  at  once,  and  watched 
him  till,  completely  satiated,  he  slept. 

May  5th. — Very  warm,  and  no  cold  water,  un 
less  one  went  to  the  river.  The  hotel  baths  were 
not  promising.  This  hotel  is  worse  than  Mill's 
House  or  Willard's.  The  feeding  and  the  flies 
are  intolerable.  One  of  our  party  comes  in  to 
say  that  he  could  scarce  get  down  to  the  hall  on 
account  of  the  crowd,  and  that  all  the  people  who 
passed  him  had  very  hard,  sharp  bones.  Pie  re 
marks  thereupon  to  the  clerk  at  the  bar,  who 
tells  him  that  the  particular  projections  he  al 
ludes  to  are  implements  of  defence  or  offence,  as 
the  case  may  be,  and  adds,  "I  suppose  you  and 
your  friends  are  the  only  people  in  the  house  who 
haven't  a  bowie-knife,  or  a  six-shooter,  or  Der 
ringer  about  them."  The  house  is  full  of  Con 
federate  Congress  men,  politicians,  colonels,  and 
placemen  with  OP  without  places,  and  a  vast,  num 
ber  of  speculators,  contractors,  and  the  like,  at 
tracted  by  the  embryo  government.  Among  the 
visitors  are  many  fillibusters,  such  as  Henning- 
sen,  Pickett,  Tochman,  Wheat.*  I  hear  a  good 
deal  about  the  association  called  the  Knights  of 
the  Golden  Circle,  a  Protestant  association  for 
securing  the  Gulf  provinces  and  states,  including 
— which  has  been  largely  developed  by  recent 
events — them  in  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and 
creating  them  into  an  independent  government. 

Montgomery  has  little  claims  to  be  called  a 
capital.  The  streets  are  very  hot,  unpleasant, 
and  uninteresting.  I  have  rarely  seen  a  more 
dull,  lifeless  place  ;  it  looks  like  a  small  Russian 
town  in  the  interior  The  names  of  the  shop 
keepers  indicate  German  and  French  origin.  I 
looked  in  at  one  or  two  of  the  slave  mngazines, 
which  are  not  unlike  similar  establishments  in 
Cairo  and  Smyrna.  A  certain  degree  of  free 
dom  is  enjoyed'  by  some  of  the  men,  who  lounge 
about  the  doors,  and  are  careless  of  escape  or 
liberty,  knowing  too  well  the  difficulties  of  either. 

It  is  not  in  its  external  aspects  generally  that 
slavery  is  so  painful.  The  observer  must  go 
with  Sterne,  and  gaze  in  on  the  captives'  dun 
geons  through  the  bars.  The  condition  of  a  pig 
in  a  stye  is  not.  in  an  animal  sense,  anything  but 
good.  Well  fed,  over  fed.  covered  from  the 
winds  and  storms  of  heaven,  with  clothing,  food, 
medicine  provided,  children  taken  care  of,  aged 
relatives  and  old  age  itself  succoured  and  guard 
ed — is  not  this ?  Get  thee  behind  us,  slave 

philosopher  !     The  hour  comes  when  the  butch- 


Since  killed  in  action. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


67 


er  steals  to  the  stye,  and  the  knife  leaps  from  the 
sheath. 

Now  tbere  is  this  one  thing  in  being  a  dva% 
avdpwv,  that  be  the  race  of  men  bad  as  it  may, 
a  kind  of  grandiose  character  is  given  to  their 
leader.  The  stag  which  sweeps  his  rivals  from 
his  course  is  the  largest  of  the  herd ;  but  a  man 
who  drives  the  largest  drove  of  sheep  is  no  better 
than  he  who  drives  the  smallest.  The  flock  he 
compels  must  consist  of  human  beings  to  devel 
op  the  property  of  which  I  speak,  and  so  the 
very  superiority  of  the  slave  master  in  the  ways 
and  habits  of  command  proves  that  the  negro  is 
a  man.  But,  at  the  same  time,  the  law  which 
regulates  all  these  relations  between  man  and  his 
fellows,  asserts  itself  here.  The  dominant  race 
becomes  dependent  on  some  other  body  of  men, 
less  martial,  arrogant,  and  wealthy,  for  its  ele 
gances,  luxuries,  and  necessaries.  The  poor  vil 
leins  round  the  Norman  castle  forge  the  armour, 
make  the  furniture,  and  exercise  the  mechanical 
arts  which  the  baron  and  his  followers  are  too 
ignorant  and  too  proud  to  pursue  ;  if  there  is  no 
population  to  serve  this  purpose,  some  energetic 
race  comes  in  their  place,  and  the  Yankee  does 
the  part  of  the  little  hungry  Greek  to  the  Roman 
patrician. 

The  South  has  at  present  little  or  no> -manu 
factures,  takes  everything  from  the  Yankee  out 
side  or  the  mean  white  within  her  gates,  and  de 
spises  both.  Both  are  reconciled  by  interest. 
The  one  gets  a  good  price  for  his  manufacture 
and  the  fruit  of  his  ingenuity  from  a  careless, 
spendthrift  proprietor  ;  the  other  hopes  to  be  as 
good  as  his  master  some  day,  and  sees  the  be 
ginning  of  his  fortune  ia  the  possession  of  a  ne 
gro.  It  is  fortunate  for  our  great  British  Cath 
erine-wheel,  which  is  continually  throwing  off 
light  and  heat  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  world 
— I  hope  not  burning  down  to  a  dull  red  cinder 
in  the  centre  at  last — that  it  had  not  to  send  its 
emigrants  to  the  Southern  States,  as  assuredly 
the  emigration  would  soon  have  been  checked. 
The  United  States  has  been  represented  to  the 
British  and  Irish  emigrants  by  the  free  States — 
the  Northern  States  and  the*  great  West — and 
the  British  and  German  emigrant  who  finds  him 
self  in  the  South,  has  drifted  there  through  the 
Northern  States,  and  either  is  a  migratory  la 
bourer,  or  hopes  to  return  with  a  little  money  to 
the  North  and  West,  if  he  does  not  see  his  way 
to  the  possession  of  land  and  negroes. 

After  dinner  at  the  hotel  table,  which  was 
crowded  with  officers,  and  where  I  met  Mr.  How- 
ell  Cobb  and  several  senators  of  the  new  Con 
gress,  I  spent  the  evening  with  Colonel  Deas, 
Quartermaster  -  General,  and  a  number  of  his 
staff,  in  their  quarters.  As  I  was  walking  over 
to  the  house,  one  of  the  detached  villa-like  resi 
dences  so  common  in  Southern  cities,  I  per 
ceived  a  crowd  of  very  well-dressed  negroes, 
men  and  women,  in  front  of  a  plain  brick  build 
ing  which  I  was  informed  was  their  Baptist 
meeting-house,  into  which  white  people  rarely  or 
never  intrude.  These  were  domestic  servants, 
or  persons  employed  in  stores,  and  their  general 
appearance  indicated  much  comfort  and  even 
luxury.  I  doubted  if  they  all  were  slaves.  One 
of  my  companions  went  up  to  a  young  woman  in 
a  straw-hat,  with  bright  red-and-green  riband 
trimmings  and  artificial  flowers,  a  gaudy  Paisley 
shawl,  and  a  rainbow-like  gown,  blown  out  over 


her  yellow  boots  by  a  prodigious  crinoline,  and 
asked  her  "  Whom  do  you  belong  to  ?"  She  re 
plied,  "I  b'long  to  Massa  Smith,  sar."  Well, 
we  have  men  who  "  belong"  to  horses  in  Eng 
land.  I  am  not  sure  if  Americans,  North  and 
South,  do  not  consider  their  superiority  to  all 
Englishmen  so  thoroughly  established,  that  they 
can  speak  of  them  as  if  they  were  talking  of  in 
ferior  animals.  To-night,  for  example,  a  gal 
lant  young  South  Carolinian,  one  Ransome  Cal- 
houn,*  was  good  enough  to  say  that  "Great 
Britain  was  in  mortal  fear  of  France,  and  was 
abjectly  subdued  by  her  great  rival."  Hence 
came  controversy,  short  and  acrimonious. 

May  Qth. — I  forgot  to  say  that  yesterday  be 
fore  dinner  I  drove  out  with  some  gentlemen  and 
the  ladies  of  the  family  of  Mr.  George  N.  Sand 
ers,  once  United  States'  consul  at  Liverpool, 
now  a  doubtful  man  here,  seeking  some  office 
from  the  Government,  and  accused  by  a  por 
tion  of  the  press  of  being  a  Confederate  spy — 
Porcus  de  grege  epicuri — but  a  learned  pig  withal, 
and  weather-wise,  and  mindful  of  the  signs  of 
the  times,  catching  straws  and  whisking  them 
upwards  to  detect  the  currents.  Well,  in  this 
great  moment  I  am  bound  to  say  there  was 
much  talk  of  ice.  The  North  owns  the  frozen 
climates ;  but  it  was  hoped  that  Great  Britain, 
to  whom  belongs  the  North  Pole,  might  force 
the  blockade  and  send  aid. 

The  environs  of  Montgomery  a*re  agreeable — 
well-wooded,  undulating,  villas  abounding,  pub 
lic  gardens,  and  a  large  negro  and  mulatto  sub 
urb.  It  is  not  usual,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  to 
see  women  riding  on  horseback  in  the  South, 
but  on  the  road  here  we  encountered  several. 

After  breakfast  I  walked  down  with  Senator 
Wigfall  to  the  capitol  of  Montgomery — one  of 
the  true  Athenian  Yankeeizcd  structures  of  this 
novo-classic  land,  erected  on  a  site  worthy  of  a 
better  fate  and  edifice.  By  an  open  cistern,  on 
our  way,  I  came  on  a  gentjeman  engaged  in  dis 
posing  of  some  living  ebony  carvings  to  a  small 
circle,  who  had  more  curiosity  than  cash,  for  they 
did  not  at  all  respond  to  the  energetic  appeals 
of  the  auctioneer. 

The  sight  was  a  bad  preparation  for  an  intro 
duction  to  the  legislative  assembly  of  a  Confed 
eracy  which  rests  on  the  Institution  as  the  cor 
nerstone  of  the  social  and  political  arch  which 
maintains  it.  But  there  they  were,  the  legisla 
tors  or  conspirators,  in  a  large  room  provided 
with  benches  and  seats,  and  listening  to  such 
a  sermon  as  a  Balfour  of  Burley  might  have 
preached  to  his  Covenanters — resolute  and  mass 
ive  heads,  and  large  frames — such  men  as  must 
have  a  faith  to  inspire  them.  And  that  is  sov 
Assaulted  by  reason,  by  logic,  argument,  philan 
thropy,  progress  directed  against  his  peculiar  in 
stitutions,  the  Southerner  at  last  is  driven  to  a 
fanaticism — a  sacred  faith  which  is  above*  all  rea 
son  or  logical  attack  in  the  propriety,  righteous 
ness,  and  divinity  of  slavery. 

The  chaplain,  a  venerable  old  man,  loudly  in 
voked  curses  on  the  heads  of  the  enemy,  and 
blessings  on  the  arms  and  councils  of  the  New 
State.  When  he  was  done,  Mr.  Howell  Cobb,  a 
fat,  double  -  chinned,  mellow  -  eyed  man,  rapped 
with  his  hammer  on  the  desk  before  the  chair  on 
which  he  sat  as  speaker  of  the  assembly,  and  the 
house  proceeded  to  business.  I  could  fancy  that, 


Since  killed. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


in  all  but  garments,  they  were  like  the  men  who 
first  conceived  the  great  rebellion  which  led  to 
the  independence  of  this  wonderful-  country — so 
earnest,  so  grave,  so  sober,  and  so  vindictive — at 
least,  so  embittered  against  the  power  which  they 
consider  tyrannical  and  insulting. 

The  word  "  liberty"  was  used  repeatedly  in  the 
short  time  allotted  to  the  public  transaction  of 
business  and  the  reading  of  documents ;  the  Con 
gress  was  anxious  to  get  to  its  work,  and  Mr. 
Howell  Cobb  again  thumped  his  desk  and  an 
nounced  that  the  house  was- going  into  "secret 
session,"  which  intimated  that  all  persons  who 
were  not  members  should  leave.  I  was  intro 
duced  to  what  is  called  the  floor  of  the  house, 
and  had  a  delegate's  chair,  and  of  course  I  moved 
away  with  the  others,  and  with  the  disappointed 
ladies  and  men  from  the  galleries,  but  one  of  the 
members,  Mr.  Rhett,  I  believe,  said  jokingly :  "  I 
think  you  ought  to  Detain  your  seat.  If  the 
"  Times"  will  support  the  South,  we'll  accept  you 
as  a  delegate."  I  replied  that  I  was  afraid  I 
could  not  act  as  a  delegate  to  a  Congress  of 
Slave  States.  And,  indeed,  I  had  been  much 
aifected  at  the  slave  auction  held  just  outside  the 
hotel,  on  the  steps  of  the  public  fountain,  which 
I  had  witnessed  on  my  way  to  the  capitol.  The 
auctioneer,  who  was  an  ill-favoured,  dissipated- 
looking  rascal,  had  his  "article"  beside  him  on, 
not  in,  a  deal  packing-case — a  stout  young  negro 
badly  dressed  and  ill-shod,  who  stood  with  all 
his  goods  fastened  in  a  small  bundle  in  his  hand, 
looking  out  at  the  small  and  listless  gathering 
of  men,  who,  whittling  and  chewing,  had  moved 
out  from  the  shady  side  of  the  street  as  they  saw 
the  man  put  up.  The  chattel  character  of  slav 
ery  in  the  States  renders  it  most  repulsive.  What 
a  pity  the  nigger  is  not  polypoid — so  that  he 
could  be  cut  up  in  junks,  and  each  junk  should 
reproduce  itself! 

A  man  in  a  cart,  some  volunteers  in  coarse 
uniform,  a  few  Irish  labourers  in  a  long  van,  and 
four  or  five  men  in  the  usual  black  coat,  satin 
waistcoat,  and  black  hat,  constituted  the  audi 
ence,  whom  the  auctioneer  addressed  volubly: 
"  A  prime  field-hand  !  Just  look  at  him — good- 
natered,  well-tempered ;  no  marks,  nary  sign  of 
bad  about  him  !  En-i-ne  hunthered — only  nine 
hun-ther-ed  and  fifty  dol'rs  for  'em !  Why,  it's 
quite  rad-aklous !  Nine  hundred  and  fifty  dol'rs ! 

I  can't  raly That's  good.  Thank  you,  sir. 

Twenty-five  bid — nine  hun-therd  and  seventy- 
five  dol'rs  for  this  most  useful  hand."  The  price 
rose  to  one  thousand  dollars,  at  which  the  useful 
hand  was  knocked  down  to  one  of  the  black  hats 
near  me.  The  auctioneer  and  the  negro  and 
his  buyer  all  walked  off  together  to  settle  the 
transaction,  and  the  crowd  moved  away. 

"That  nigger  went  cheap,"  said  one  of  them 
to  a  companion,  as  he  walked  towards  the  shade. 
"Yes,  Sirr !  Niggers  is  cheap  now — that's  a 
fact."  I  must  admit  that  I  felt  myself  indulging 
in  a  sort  of  reflection  whether  it  would  not  be 
nice  to  own  a  man  as  absolutely  as  one  might 
possess  a  horse — to  hold  him  subject  to  my  will 
and  pleasure,  as  if  he  were  a  brute  beast  without 
the  power  of  kicking  or  biting — to  make  him 
work  for  me — to  hold  his  fate  in  my  hands :  but 
the  thought  was  for  a  moment.  It  was  followed 
by  disgust. 

I  have  seen  slave  markets  in  the  East,  where 
the  traditions  of  the  race,  the  condition  of  family 


and  social  relations  divest  slavery  of  the  most 
odious  characteristics  which  pertain  to  it  in  the 
States ;  but  the  use  of  the  English  tongue  in 
such  transactions,  and  the  idea  of  its  taking  place 
among  a  civilized  Christian  people,  produced  in* 
me  a  feeling  of  inexpressible  loathing  and  in 
dignation.  Yesterday  I  was  much  struck  by  the 
intelligence,  activity,  and  desire  to  please  of  a 
good-looking  coloured  waiter,  who  seemed  so 
light-hearted  and  light  -  coloured  I  could  not 
imagine  he  was  a  slave.  So  one  of  our  party, 
who  was  an  American,  asked  him:  "What  are 
you,  boy — a  free  nigger?"  Of  course  he  knew 
that  in  Alabama  it  was  most  unlikely  he  could 
reply  in  the  affirmative.  The  young  man's  smile 
died  away  from  his  lips,  a  flush  of  blood  em- 
I  browned  the  face  for  a  moment,  and  he  answered 
j  in  a  sad,  low  tone :  "No,  sir!  I  b'long  to  Massa 
Jackson,"  and  left  the  room  at  once.  As  I  stood 
at  an  upper  window  of  the  capitol,  and  looked  on 
the  wide  expanse  of  richly-wooded,  well-culti 
vated  land  which  sweeps  round  the  hill  side  away 
to  the  horizon,  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  the 
misery  and  cruelty  which  must  have  been  borne 
in  tilling  the  land  and  raising  the  houses  and 
streets  of  the  dominant  race  before  whom  one 
nationality  of  coloured  people  have  perished  with 
in  the  memory  of  man.  The  misery  and  cruelty 
of  the  system  are  established  by  the  advertise 
ments  for  runaway  negroes,  and  by  the  descrip 
tion  of  the  stigmata  on  their  persons — whippings 
and  brandings,  scars  and  cuts — though  these,  in 
deed,  arc  less  frequent  here  than  in  the  border 
States. 

On  my  return,  the  Hon.  W.  M.  Browne,  As 
sistant  Secretary  of  State,  came  to  visit  me — a 
cadet  of  an  Irish  family,  who  came  to  America 
some  years  ago,  and  having  lost  his  money  in 
land  speculations,  turned  his  pen  to  good  ac 
count  as  a  journalist,  and  gained  Mr.  Buchan 
an's  patronage  and  support  as  a  newspaper  editor 
in  Washington.  There  he  became  intimate  with 
the  Southern  gentlemen,  with  whom  he  natural 
ly  associated  in  preference  to  the  Northern  mem 
bers  ;  and  when  they  went  out,  he  walked  over 
along  with  them.  He  told  me  the  Government 
had  already  received  numerous — I  think  he  said 
j  400 — letters  from  shipowners  applying  for  letters 
of  marque  and  reprisal.  Many  of  these  applica- 
1  tions  were  from  merchants  in  Boston,  and  other 
maritime  cities  in  the  New  England  States.  He 
further  stated  that  the  President  was  determined 
to  take  the  whole  control  of  the  army,  and  the 
appointments  to  command  in  all  ranks  of  officers 
into  his  own  hands. 

There  is  now  no  possible  chance  of  preserving 
the  peace  or  of  averting  the  horrors  of  war  from 
these  great  and  prosperous  communities.  The 
Southern  people,  right  or  wrong,  are  bent  on  in 
dependence  and  on  separation,  and  they  will  fight 
to  the  last  for  their  object. 

The  press  is  fanning  the  flame  on  both  sides: 
it  would  be  difficult  to  say  whether  it  or  the  tel 
egraphs  circulate  lies  most  largely ;  but  that  as 
the  papers  print  the  telegrams  they  must  have 
the  palm.  The  Southerners  are  told  there  is  a 
reign  of  terror  in  New  York — that  the  7th  New 
York  Regiment  has  been  captured  by  the  Balti 
more  people — that  Abe  Lincoln  is  always  drunk 
— that  General  Lee  has  seized  Arlington  heights, 
I  and  is  bombarding  Washington.  The  New  York 
|  people  are  regaled  with  similar  stories  from  the 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


South.  The  coincidence  between  the  date  of 
the  skirmish  at  Lexington  and  of  the  attack  on 
the  6th  Massachusetts  Regiment  at  Baltimore  is 
hot  so  remarkable  as  the  fact,  that  the  first  man 
.who  was  killed  at  the  latter  place,  86  years  ago, 
was  a  direct  descendant  of  the  first  of  the  colo 
nists  who  was  killed  by  the  royal  soldiery.  Bal 
timore  may  do  the  same  for  the  South  which 
Lexington  did  for  all  the  Colonies.  Head- 
shaving,  forcible  deportations,  tarring  and  feath 
ering  are  recommended  and  adopted  as  specifics 
to  produce  conversion  from  erroneous  opinions. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  has  called 
into  service  of  the  Federal  Government  42,000 
volunteers,  and  increased  the  regular  army  by 
22,000  men,  and  the  navy  by  18,000  men.  If 
the  South  secede,  they  ought  certainly  to  take 
over  with  them  some  Yankee  hotel  keepers. 
This  "Exchange"  is  in  a  frightful  state — noth 
ing  but  noise,  dirt,  drinking,  wrangling. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Proclamation   of  war — Jefferson   Davis— Interview  with 
the  President  of  the  Confederacy — Passport  and  safe- 
conduct — Messrs.  Wigfall,  Walker,  and  Benjamin — Pri 
vateering  and  letters  of  marque — A  reception  at  Jeffer 
son  Davis' 3— Dinner  at  Mr.  Benjamin's. 
May  9th. — To-day  the  papers  contain  a  proc 
lamation  by  the  President  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America,  declaring  a  state  of  war  be 
tween  the  Confederacy  and  the  United  States, 
and  notifying  the  issue  of  letters  of  marque  and 
reprisal.     I  went   out  with  Mr.  Wigfall  in  the 
forenoon  to  pay  my  respects  to  Mr.  Jefferson 
Davis  at  the  State'  Department.     Mr.  Seward 
told  me  that  but  for  Jefferson  Davis  the  Seces 
sion  plot  could  never  have  been  carried  out.    No 
other  man  of  the  party  had  the  brain,  or  the 
courage  and  dexterity,  to  bring  it  to  a  successful 
issue.     All  the  persons  in  the  Southern  States 
spoke  of  him  with  admiration,  though  their  forms 
of  speech  and  thought  generally  forbid  them  to 
be  respectful  to  any  one. 

There  before  me  was  "  Jeff  Davis's  State  De 
partment" — a  large  brick  building,  at  the  corner 
of  a  street,  with  a  Confederate  flag  floating  above 
it.  The  door  stood  open,  and  "gave"  on  a  large 
hall  white-washed,  with  doors  plainly  painted 
belonging  to  small  rooms,  in  which  was  trans 
acted  most  important  business,  judging  by  the 
names  written  on  sheets  of  paper  and  applied 
outside,  denoting  bureaux  of  the  highest  func 
tions.  A  few  clerks  were  passing  in  and  out, 
and  one  or  two  gentlemen  were  on  the  stairs, 
but  there  was  no  appearance  of  any  bustle  in  the 
building. 

We  walked  straight  up-stairs  to  the  first-floor, 
which  was  surrounded  by  doors  opening  from  a 
quadrangular  plat-form.  On  one  of  these  was 
written  simply,  "The  President."  Mr. Wigfall 
went  in,  and  after  a  moment  returned  and  said, 
''The  President  will  be  glad  to  see  you;  walk 
in,  sir."  When  I  entered,  the  President  was  en 
gaged  with  four  gentlemen,  who  were  making 
some  offer  of  aid  to  him.  He  was  thanking  them 
"in  the  name  of  the  Government."  Shaking 
hands  with  each,  he  saw  them  to  the  door,  bowed 
them  and  Mr.  Wigfall  out,  and  turning  to  me 
said,  "Mr.  Russell,  I  am  glad  to  welcome  you 
here,  though  I  fear  your  appearance  is  a  symp 
tom  that  our  affairs  are  not  quite  prosperous," 


or  words  to  that  effect.  He  then  requested  me 
to  sit  down  close  to  his  own  chair  at  his  office- 
table,  and  proceeded  to  speak  on  general  mat 
ters,  adverting  to  the  Crimean  War  and  the  In 
dian  Mutiny,  and  asking  questions  about  Sebas- 
topol,  the  Redan,  and  the  Siege  of  Lucknow. 

I  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  the  Presi 
dent  very  closely :  he  did  not  impress  me  as  fa 
vourably  as  Iliad  expected,  though  he  is  certainly 
a  very  different  looking  man  from  Mr.  Lincoln, 
He  is  like  a  gentleman — has  a  slight,  light  fig 
ure,  little  exceeding  middle  height,  and  holds 
himself  erect  and  straight.  He  was  dressed  in 
a  rustic  suit  of  slate-coloured  stuff,  with  a  black 
silk  handkerchief  round  his  neck  ;  his  manner  is 
plain,  and  rather  reserved  and  drastic ;  his  head 
is  well  formed,  with  a  fine  full  forehead,  square 
and  high,  covered  with  innumerable  fine  lines 
and  wrinkles,  features  regular,  though  the  check- 
bones  are  too  high,  and  the  jaws  too  hollow  to  be 
handsome ;  the  lips  are  thin,  flexible,  and  curved, 
the  chin  square,  well-defined  ;  the  nose  very  reg 
ular,  with  wide  nostrils ;  and  the  eyes  deep  set, 
large  and  full — one  seems  nearly  blind,  and  is 
partly  covered  with  a  film,  owing  to  excruciating 
attacks  of  neuralgia  and  tic.  Wonderful  to  re 
late,  he  does  not  chew,  and  is  neat  and  clean- 
looking,  with  hair  trimmed  and  boots  brushed. 
The  expression  of  his  face  is  anxious,  he  has  a 
very  haggard,  care-worn,  and  pain-drawn  look, 
though  no  trace  of  anything  but  the  utmost  con 
fidence  and  the  greatest  decision  could  be  detect 
ed  in  his  conversation.  He  asked  me  .some 
questions  respecting  the  route  I  had  taken  in  the 
States. 

I  mentioned  that  I  had  seen  great  military 
preparations  through  the  South,  and  was  aston 
ished  at  the  alacrity  with  which  the  people  sprang 
to  arms.  "Yes,  sir,"  he  remarked,  and  his  tone 
of  voice  and  manner  of  speech  are  rather  re 
markable  for  what  are  considered  Yankee  pe 
culiarities,  "in  Eu-rope"  (Mr.  Seward  also  in 
dulges  in  that  pronunciation)  "  they  laugh  at  us 
because  of  our  fondness  for  military  titles  and 
displays.  All  your  travellers  in  this  country 
have  commented  on  the  number  of  generals,  and 
colonels,  and  majors  all  over  the  States.  But 
the  fact  is,  we  are  a  military  people,  and  these 
signs  of  the  fact  were  ignored.  We  are  not  less 
military  because  we  have  had  no  great  standing 
armies.  But  perhaps  we  are  the  only  people  in 
the  world  where  gentlemen  go  to  a  military 
academy,  who  do  not  intend  to  follow  the  profes 
sion  of  arms." 

In  the  course  of  our  conversation,  I  asked  him 
to  have  the  goodness  to  direct  that  a  sort  of  pass 
port  or  protection  should  be  given  to  me,  as  I 
might  possibly  fall  in  with  some  guerilla  leader 
on  my  way  northwards,  in  whose  eyes  I  might 
not  be  entitled  to  safe  conduct.  Mr.  Davis  said, 
"I  shall  give  such  instructions  to  the  Secretary 
of  War  as  shall  be  necessary.  But,  sir,  you  are 
among  civilised,  intelligent  people  who  under 
stand  your  position,  and  appreciate  your  charac 
ter.  We  do  not  seek  the  sympathy  of  England1 
by  unworthy  means,  for  we  respect  ourselves,, 
and  we  are  glad  to  invite  the  scrutiny  of  men 
into  our  acts ;  as  for  our  motives,  we  meet  the ,' 
eye  of  Heaven."  I  thought  I  could  judge  from 
his  words  that  he  had  the  highest  idea  of  the 
French  as  soldiers,  but  that  his  feelings  and  asso 
ciations  were  more  identified  with  England,  al- 


70 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


though  he  was  quite  aware  of  the  difficulty  of 
conquering  the  repugnance  which  exists  to  slav 
ery. 

Mr.  Davis  made  no  allusion  to  the  authorities 
at  Washington,  but  he  asked  me  if  I  thought  it 
was  supposed  in  England  there  would  be  war  be 
tween  the  two  States  ?  I  answered,  that  I  was 
under  the  impression  the  public  thought  there 
would  be  no  actual  hostilities.  "And  yet  you 
see  we  are  driven  to  take  up  arms  for  the  defence 
of  our  rights  and  liberties." 

As  I  saw  an  immense  mass  of  papers  on  his 
table,  I  rose  and  made  my  bow,  and  Mr.  Davis, 
seeing  me  to  the  door,  gave  me  his  hand  and 
said,  "As  long  as  you  may  stay  among  us  you 
shall  receive  every  facility  it  is  in  our  power  to 
afford  to  you,  and  I  shall  always  be  glad  to  see 
vou."  Colonel  Wigfall  was  outside,  and  took 
me  to  the  room  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  Mr. 
Walker,  whom  we  found  closeted  with  General 
Beauregard  and  two  other  officers  in  a  room  full 
of  maps  and  plans.  He  is  the  kind  of  man  gen 
erally  represented  in  our  types  of  a  "Yankee" — 
tall,  lean,  straight-haired,  angular,  with  •  fiery, 
impulsive  eyes  and  manner — a  ruminator  of  to 
bacco  and  a  profuse  spitter — a  lawyer,  I  believe, 
certainly  not  a  soldier;  ardent,  devoted  to  the 
cause,  and  confident  to  the  last  degree  of  its 
speedy  success. 

The  news  that  two  more  States  had  joined  the 
Confederacy,  making  ten  in  all,  was  enough  to 
put  them  in  good  humour.  "Is  it  not  too  bad 
these  Yankees  will  not  let  us  go  our  own  way, 
and  keep  their  cursed  Union  to  themselves  ?  If 
they  force  us  to  it,  we  may  be  obliged  to  drive 
them  beyond  the  Susquehanna."  Beauregard 
was  in  excellent  spirits,  busy  measuring  off  miles 
of  country  with  his  compass,  as  if  he  were  divid 
ing  empires. 

From  this  room  I  proceeded  to  the  office  of 
Mr.  Benjamin,  the  Attorney-General  of  the  Con 
federate  States,  the  most  brilliant  perhaps  of  the 
whole  of  the  famous  Southern  orators.  He  is  a 
short,  stout  man,  with  a  full  face,  olive-coloured, 
and  most  decidedly  Jewish  features,  with  the 
brightest  large  black  eyes,  one  of  which  is  some 
what  diverse  from  the  other,  and  a  brisk,  lively, 
agreeable  manner,  combined  with  much  vivacity 
of  speech  and  quickness  of  utterance.  He  is  one 
of  the  first  lawyers  or  advocates  in  the  United 
States,  and  had  a  large  prafctice  at  Washington, 
where  his  annual  receipts  from  his  profession 
were  not  less  than  £8000  to  £10,000  a  year. 
But  his  love  of  the  card-table  renderedjiim  a 
prey  to  older  and  cooler  hands,  who  waited  till 
the  sponge  was  full  at  the  end  of  the  session,  and 
then  squeezed  it  to  the  last  drop. 

Mr.  Benjamin  is  the  most  open,  frank,  and 
cordial  of  the  Confederates  whom  I  have  yet  met. 
In  a  few  seconds  he  was  telling  me  all  about  the 
course  of  Government  with  respect  to  privateers 
and  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  in  order  prob 
ably  to  ascertain  what  were  our  views  in  England 
on  the  subject.  I  observed  it  was  likely  the 
North  would  not  respect  their  flag,  and  would 
treat  their  privateers  as  pirates.  "  We  have  an 
easy  remedy  for  that.  For  any  man  under  our 
flag  whom  the  authorities  of  the  United  States 
dare  to  execute,  we  shall  hang  two  of  their  peo 
ple."  "Suppose,  Mr.  Attorney -General,  En- 
gland,  or  any  of  the  great  p6wers  which  decreed  : 
the  abolition  of  privateering,  refuses  to  recog 


nise  your  flag ?"  "We  intend  to  claim,  and  do 
claim,  the  exercise  of  all  the  rights  and  privi 
leges  of  an  independent  sovereign  State,  and 
any  attempt  to  refuse  us  the  full  measure  of  those 
rights  would  be  an  act  of  hostility  to  our  coun 
try."  "But  if  England,  for  example,  declared 
your  privateers  were  pirates  ?"  "As  the  United 
States  never  admitted  the  principle  laid  down  at 
the  Congress  of  Paris,  neither  have  the  Confed 
erate  States.  If  England  thinks  fit  to  declare  pri 
vateers  under  our  flag  pirates,  it  would  be  noth 
ing  more  or  less  than  a  declaration  of  war  against 
us,  and  we  must  meet  it  as  best  we  can."!  In 
fact,  Mr.  Benjamin  did  not  appear  afraid  of  any 
thing  ;  but  his  confidence  respecting  Great  Brit 
ain  was  based  a  good  deal,  no  doubt,  on  his  firm 
faith  in  cotton,  and  in  England's  utter  subjection 
to  her  cotton  interest  and  manufactures.  "All 
this  coyness  about  acknowledging  a  slave  power 
will  come  right  at  last.  We  hear  our  commis 
sioners  have  gone  on  to  Paris,  which  Ic^ks  as  if 
they  had  met  with  no  encouragement  at  Lon 
don  ;  but  we  are  quite  easy  in  our  minds  on  this 
point  at  present." 

So  Great  Britain  is  in  a  pleasant  condition, 
Mr.  Seward  is  threatening  us  with  war  if  we  rec 
ognise  the  South,  and  the  South  declares  that  if 
we  don't  recognise  their  flag,  they  will  take  it  as 
an  act  of  hostility.  Lord  Lyons  is  pressed  to 
give  an  assurance  to  the  Government  at  Wash 
ington,  that  under  no  circumstances  will  Great 
Britain  recognise  the  Southern  rebels ;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  Mr.  Seward  refuses  to  give  any 
assurance  whatever  that  the  right  of  neutrals 
will  be  respected  in  the  impending  struggle. 

As  I  was  going  down  stairs,  Mr.  Browne  call 
ed  me  into  his  room.  He  said  that  the  Attor 
ney-General  and  himself  were  in  a  state  of  per 
plexity  as  to  the  form  in  which  letters  of  marque 
and  reprisal  should  be  made  out.  They  had  con 
sulted  all  the  books  they  could  get,  but  found  no 
examples  to  suit  their  case,  and  he  wished  to 
know,  as  I  was  a  barrister,  whether  I  could  aid 
him.  I  told  him  it  was  not  so  much  my  regard 
to  my  own  position  as  a  neutral,  as  the  ?'q/H  in- 
sdtia  juris  which  prevented  me  throwing  any 
light  on  the  subject.  There  are  not  only  Yan 
kee  shipowners  but  English  firms  ready  with  sail 
ors  and  steamers  for  the  Confederate  Govern 
ment,  and  the  owner  of  the  Camilla  might  be 
tempted  to  part  witu  his  yacht  by  the  offers  made 
to  him. 

Being  invited  to  attend  a  levee  or  reception 
held  by  Mrs.  Davis,  the  President's  wife,  I  re 
turned  to  .the  hotel  to  prepare  for  the  occasion. 
On  my  way  I  passed  a  company  of  volunteers, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  artillerymen,  and  three 
field-pieces,  on  their  way  to  the  station  for  Vir 
ginia,  followed  by  a  crowd  of  "citizens"  and  ne 
groes  of  both  sexes,  cheering  vociferously.  The 
band  was  playing  that  excellent  quick  -  step 
"Dixie."  Th*e  men  were  stout,  fine  fellows, 
dressed  in  coarse  grey  tunics  with  yellow  fac 
ings,  and  French  caps.  They  were  armed  with 
smooth-bore  muskets,  and  their  knapsacks  were 
unfit  for  marching,  being  water-proof  bags  slung 
from  the  shoulders.  The  guns  had  no  caissons, 
and  the  shoeing  of  the  troops  was  certainly  defi 
cient  in  soloing.  The  Zouave  mania  is  quite  as 
rampant  here  as  it  is  in  New  York,  and  the 
smallest  children  are  thrust  into  baggy  red  breech 
es,  which  the  learned  Lipsius  might  have  appro- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


71 


ciated.  and  are  sent  out  with  flags  and  tin  swords 
to  impede  the  highways. 

The  modest  villa  in  which  the  President  lives 
is  painted  white — another  "White  House" — and 
stands  in  a  small  garden.  The  door  was  open. 
A  coloured  servant  took  in  our  names,  and  Mr. 
Browne  presented  me  to  Mrs.  Davis,  whom  ] 
could  just  make  out  in  the  demi-jour  of  a  mod 
erately-sized  parlour,  surrounded  by  a  few  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  the  former  in  bonnets,  the  latter 
in  morning  dress  a  la  midi.  There  was  no  affect 
ation  of  state  or  ceremony  in  the  reception.  Mrs. 
Davis,  whom  some  of  her  friends  call  "  Queen 
Varina,"  is  a  comely,  sprightly  woman,  verging 
on  matronhopd,  of  good  figure  and  manners, 
well-dressed,  fady-like,  and  clever,  and  she  seem 
ed  a  great  favourite  with  those  around  her,  though 
I  did  hear  one  of  them  say  "  It  must  be  very  nice 
to  be  the  President's  wife,  and  be  the  first  lady 
in  the  Confederate  States."  Mrs.  Davis,  whom 
the  President  C.  S.  married  en  secondes  noces,  ex 
ercised  considerable  social  influence  in  Washing 
ton,  where  I  met  many  of  her  friends.  She  was 
just  now  inclined  to  be  angry,  because  the  pa 
pers  contained  a  report  that  a  reward  was  offered 
in  the  North  for  the  head  of  the  arch  rebel  Jeff 
Davis.  "They  are  quite  capable,  I  believe,"  she 
said,  "of  such  acts."  There  were  not  more  than 
eighteen  or  twenty  persons  present,  as  each  party 
came  in  and  staid  only  for  a  few  moments,  and, 
after  a  time,  I  made  my  bow  and  retired,  receiv 
ing  from  Mrs.  Davis  an  invitation  to  come  in  the 
evening,  when  I  would  find  the  President  at  home. 

At  sundown,  amid  great  cheering,  the  guns  in 
front  of  the  State  Department  fired  ten  rounds, 
to  announce  that  Tennessee  and  Arkansas  had 
joined  the  Confederacy. 

In  the  evening  I  dined  with  Mr.  Benjamin  and 
his  brother-in-law,  a  gentleman  of  New  Orleans, 
Colonel  Wigfall  coming  in  at  the  end  of  dinner. 
The  New  Orleans  people  of  French  descent,  or 
"Creoles,"  as  they  call  themselves,  speak  French 
in  preference  to  English,  and  Mr.  Benjamin's 
brother-in-law  laboured  considerably  in  trying 
to  make  himself  understood  in  our  vernacular. 
The  conversation,  Franco-English,  very  pleasant, 
for  Mr.  Benjamin  is  agreeable  and  lively.  He 
is  certain  that  the  English  law  authorities  must 
advise  the  Government  that  the  blockade  of  the 
Southern  ports  is  illegal  so  long  as  the  President 
claims  them  to  be  ports  of  the  United  States. 
"At  present,"  he  said,  "their  paper  blockade 
does  no  harm ;  the  season  for  shipping  cotton  is 
over ;  but  in  October  next,  when  the  Mississippi 
is  floating  cotton  by  the  thousands  of  bales,  and 
all  our  wharves  are  full,  it  is  inevitable  that  the 
Yankees  must  come  to  trouble  with  this  attempt 
to  coerce  us."  Mr.  Benjamin  walked  back  to 
the  hotel  with  me,  and  we  found  our  room  full 
of  tobacco-smoke,  filibusters,  and  conversation, 
in  which,  as  sleep  was  impossible,  we  were  obliged 
to  join.  I  resisted  a  vigorous  attempt  of  Mr.  G. 
N.  Sanders  and  a  friend  of  his  to  take  me  to  visit 
a  planter  who  had  a  beaver-dam  some  miles  out 
side  Montgomery.  They  succeeded  in  captur 
ing  Mr.  Deasy. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Mr.  Wigfall  on  the  Confederacy—Intended  departure  from 
the  South— Northern  apathy  and  Southern  activity- 


Future  prospects  of  the  Union— South  Carolina  and  cot- 
ton— The  theory  of  slavery— Indifference  at  New  York 
— Departure  from  Montgomery. 

May  8th. — I  tried  to  write,  as  I  have  taken  my 
place  in  the  steamer  to  Mobile  to-morrow,  and  I 
was  obliged  to  do  my  best  in  a  room  full  of  peo 
ple,  constantly  disturbed  by  visitors.  Early  this 
morning,  as  usual,  my  faithful  Wigfall  comes  in 
and  sits  by  my  bedside,  and  passing  his  hands 
through  his  locks,  pours  out  his  ideas  Avith  won 
derful  lucidity  and  odd  affectation  of  logic  all 
his  own.  "We  are  a  peculiar  people,  sir!  You 
don't  understand  us,  and  you  can't  understand 
us,  because  we  are  known  to  you  only  by  North 
ern  writers  and  Northern  papers,  who  know  noth 
ing  of  us  themselves,  or  misrepresent  what  they 
do  know.  We  are  an  agricultural  people ;  we 
are  a  primitive  but  a  civilised  people.  We  have 
no  cities — we  don't  want  them.  We  have  no  lit 
erature — we  don't  need  any  yet.  We  have  no 
press— we  are  glad  of  it.  We  do  not  require  a 
press,  because  we  go  out  and  discuss  all  public 
questions  from  the  stump  with  our  people.  We 
have  no  commercial  marine — no  navy — we  don't 
want  them.  WTe  are  better  without  them.  Your 
ships  carry  our  produce,  and  you  can  protect  your 
own  vessels.  We  want  no  manufactures :  we  de 
sire  no  trading,  no  mechanical  or  manufacturing 
classes.  As  long  as  we  have  our  rice,  our  sugar, 
our  tobacco,  and  our  cotton,  we  can  command 
wealth  to  purchase  all  we  want  from  those  na 
tions  with  which  we  are  in  amity,  and  to  lay  up 
money  besides.  But  with  the  Yankees  we'will 
never  trade — never.  Not  one  pound  of  cotton 
shall  ever  go  from  the  South  to  their  accursed 
cities ;  not  one  ounce  of  their  steel  or  their  man 
ufactures  shall  ever  cross  our  border."  And  so 
on.  What  the  Senator  who  is  preparing  a  bill 
for  drafting  the  people  into  the  army  fears  is, 
that  the  North  will  begin  active  operations  be 
fore  the  South  is  ready  for  resistance.  "Give 
us  till  November  to  drill  our  men,  and  we  shall 
be  irresistible."  He  deprecates  any  offensive 
movement,  and  is  opposed  to  an  attack  on  Wash 
ington,  which  many  journals  here  advocate. 

Mr.  Walker  sent  me  over  a  letter  recommend 
ing  me  to  all  officers  of  the  Confederate  States, 
and  I  received  an  invitation  from  the  President 
to  dine  with  him  to-morrow,  which  I  was  much 
chagrined  to  be  obliged  to  refuse.  In  fact,  it  is 
most  important  to  complete  my  Southern  tour 
speedily,  as  all  mail  communication  will  soon 
be  suspended  from  the  South,  and  the  blockade 
effectually  cuts  off  any  communication  by  sea. 
Rails  torn  up,  bridges  broken,  telegraphs  down — 
trains  searched — the  war  is  begun.  The  North 
is  pouring  its  hosts  to  the  battle,  and  it  has  met 
the  pagans  of  the  conquering  Charlestonians  with 
a  universal  yell  of  indignation  and  an  oath  of 
vengeance. 

I  expressed  a  belief  in  a  letter,  written  a  few 
days  after  my  arrival  (March  27th),  that  the 
South  would  never  go  back  into  the  Union.  The 
North  think  that  they  can  coerce  the  South,  and 
I  am  not  prepared  to  say  they  are  right  or  wrong ;  ' 
but  I  am  convinced  that  the  South  can  only  be 
x>rced  back  by  such  a  conquest  as  that  which  laid 
Poland  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  Russia.  •  It  may 
ae  that  such  a  conquest  can  be  made  .by  the 
Sorth,  but  success  must  destroy  the  Union  as  it 
ins  been  constituted  in  times  past.  A  strong 
novernment  must  be  the  logical  consequence  of 


72 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


victory,  and  the  triumph  of  the  South  will  be 
attended  by  a  similar  result,  for  which,  indeed, 
many  Southerners  are  very  well  disposed.  To  the 
people  of  the  Confederate  States  there  would  be 
no  terror  in  such  an  issue,  for  it  appears  to  me 
they  are  pining  for  a  strong  Government  exceed 
ingly.  The  North  must  accept  it,  whether  they 
like  it  or  not. 

Neither  party — if  such  a  term  can  be  applied 
to  the  rest  of  the  United  States,  and  to  those 
States  which  disclaim  the  authority  of  the  Fed 
eral  Government — was  prepared  for  the  aggress 
ive  or  resisting  power  of  the  other.  Already  the 
Confederate  States  perceive  that  they  cannot  car 
ry  all  before  them  with  a  rush,  while  the  North 
have  learnt  that  they  must  put  forth  all  their 
strength  to  make  good  a  tithe  of  their  lately  ut 
tered  threats.  But  the  Montgomery  Government 
are  anxious  to  gain  time,  and  to  prepare  a  regu 
lar  army.  The  North,  distracted  by  apprehen 
sions  of  vast  disturbance  in  their  complicated  re 
lations,  are  clamouring  for  instant  action  and 
speedy  consummation.  The  counsels  of  moder 
ate  men,  as  they  were  called,  have  been  utterly 
overruled. 

The  whole  foundation  on  which  South  Caro 
lina  rests  is  cotton  and  a  certain  amount  of  rice ; 
or  rather  she  bases  her  whole  fabric  on  the  ne 
cessity  which  exists  in  Europe  for  those  products 
of  her  soil,  believing  and  asserting,  as  she  does, 
that  England  and  France  cannot  and  will  not  do 
without  them.  Cotton,  without  a  market,  is  so 
much  flocculent  matter  encumbering  the  ground. 
Rice,  without  demand  for  it,  is  unsaleable  grain 
in  store  and  on  the  field.  Cotton  at  ten  cents 
a  pound  is  boundless  prosperity,  empire  and  su 
periority,  and  rice  or  grain  need  no  longer  be  re 
garded. 

In  the  matter  of  slave-labour,  South  Carolina 
argues  pretty  much  in  the  following  manner: 
England  and  France  (she  says)  require  our  prod 
ucts.  In  order  to  meet  their  wants,  we  must 
cultivate  our  soil.  There  is  only  one  way  of  do 
ing  so.  The  white  man  cannot  live  on  our  land 
I  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year ;  he  cannot  work 
in  the  manner  required  by  the  crops.  He  must, 
therefore,  employ  a  race  suited  to  the  labour, 
and  that  is  a  race  which  will  only  work  when  it 
is  obliged  to  do  so.  That  race  was  imported 
from  Africa,  under  the  sanction  of  the  law,  by 
our  ancestors,  when  we  were  a  British  colony, 
and  it  has  been  fostered  by  us,  so  that  its  increase 
here  has  been  as  great  as  that  of  the  most  flour 
ishing  people  in  the  world .  In  other  places,  where 
its  labour  was  not  productive  or  imperatively  es 
sential,  that  race  has  been  made  free,  sometimes 
with  disastrous  consequences  to  itself  and  to  in 
dustry.  But  we  will  not  make  it  free.  We  can 
not  do  so.  We  hold  that  slavery  is  essential  to 
our  existence  as  producers  of  what  Europe  re 
quires  ;  nay  more,  we  maintain  it  is  in  the  ab 
stract  right  in  principle  ^  and  some  of  us  go  so 
far  as  to  maintain  that  the  only  proper  form  of 
society,  according  to  the  law  of  God  and  the  ex 
igencies  of  man,  is  that  which  has  slavery  as  its 
basis.  As  to  the  slave,  he  is  happier  far  in  his 
state  of  servitude,  more  civilised  and  religious, 
than  he  is  or  could  be  if  free  or  in  his  native  Af 
rica.  For  this  system  we  will  fight  to  the  end. 

In  the  evening  I  paid  farewell  visits,  and  spent 
an  hour  with  Mr.  Toombs,  who  is  unquestionably 
one  of  the  most  original,  quaint,  and  earnest  of 


the  Southern  leaders,  and  whose  eloquence  and 
power  as  a  debater  are  greatly  esteemed  by  his 
countrymen.  He  is  something  of  an  Anglo- 
maniac,  and  an  Anglo-phobist — a  combination 
not  unusual  in  America — that  is,  he  is  proud  of 
being  connected  with  and  descended  from  respect 
able  English  families,  and  admires  our  mixed  ^ 
constitution,  whilst  he  is  an  enemy  to  what  is 
called  English  policy,  and  is  a  strong  pro-slavery 
champion.  Wigfall  and  he  are  very  uneasy  about 
the  scant  supply  of  gunpowder  in  the  Southern 
States,  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  it. 

In  the  evening  had  a  little  reunion  in  the  bed 
room  as  before — Mr.  Wigfall,  Mr.  Keitt,  an  em 
inent  Southern  politician,  Colonel  Pickett,  Mr. 
Browne,  Mr.  Benjamin,  Mr.  George  Sanders, 
and  others.  The  last-named  gentleman  was  dis 
missed  or  recalled  from  his  post  at  Liverpool, 
because  he  fraternised  with  Mazzini  and  other 
Red  Republicans  a  ce  qu1  on  dit.  Here  he  is  a 
slavery  man,  and  a  friend  of  an  oligarchy.  Your 
"Rights  of  Man"  man  is  often  most  inconsistent 
with  himself,  and  is  generally  found  associated 
with  the  men  of  force  and  violence. 

May  the  9^.— My  faithful  Wigfall  was  good 
enough  to  come  in  early,  in  order  to  show  me 
some  comments  on  my  letters  in  the  "  New  York 
Times."  It  appears  the  papers  are  angry  be 
cause  I  said  that  New  York  was  apathetic  when 
I  landed,  and  they  try  to  prove  I  was  wrong  by 
showing  there  was  a  "glorious  outburst  of  Union 
feeling,"  after  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Sumter. 
But  I  now  know  that  the  very  apathy  of  which  I 
spoke  was  felt  by  the  Government  of  Washing 
ton,  and  was  most  weakening  and  embarrassing 
to  them.  What  would  not  the  value  of  "  the 
glorious  outburst"  have  been,  had  it  taken  place 
before  the  Charleston  batteries  had  opened  on 
Sumter  —  when  the  Federal  flag,  for  example, 
was  fired  on,  flying  from  the  '  Star  of  the  West,' 
or  when  Beauregard  cut  off  supplies,  or  Bragg 
threatened  Pickens,  or  the  first  shovel  of  earth 
was  thrown  up  in  hostile  battery  ?  But  no  ! 
New  York  was  then  engaged  in  discussing  State 
rights,  and  in  reading  articles  to  prove  the  new 
Government  would  be  traitors  if  they  endeav 
oured  to  reinforce  the  Federal  forts,  or  were  pe 
rusing  leaders  in  favor  of  the  Southern  Govern 
ment.  Haply,  they  may  remember  one,  not  so 
many  weeks  old,  in  which  the  "  New  York  Her 
ald"  compared  Jeff  Davis  and  his  Cabinet  to  the 
"Great  Rail  Splitter,"  and  Seward,  and  Chase, 
and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  former  "were 
gentlemen" — (a  matter  of  which  it  is  quite  incom 
petent  to  judge) — "  and  would,  and  ought  to  suc 
ceed."  The  glorious  outburst  of  "Union  feel 
ing"  which  threatened  to  demolish  the  "  Herald" 
office,  has  created  a  most  wonderful  change  in 
the  views  of  the  proprietor,  whose  diverse-eyed 
vision  is  now  directed  solely  to  the  beauties  of 
the  Union,  and  whose  faith  is  expressed  in  "a 
hearty  adhesion  to  the  Government  of  our  coun 
try."  New  York  must  pay  the  penalty  of  its  in 
difference,  and  bear  the  consequences  of  listen 
ing  to  such  counsellors. 

Mr.  Deasy,  much  dilapidated,  returned  about 
twelve  o'clock  from  his  planter,  who  was  drunk 
when  he  went  over,  and  would  not  let  him  go  to 
the  beaver-dam.  To  console  him,  the  planter 
stayed  up  all  night  drinking,  and  waking  him  up 
at  intervals,  that  he  might  refresh  him  with  a 
glass  of  whisky.  This  man  was  well  orT,  owned 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


73 


land,  and  a  good  stock  of  slaves,  but  he  must 
have  been  a  "  mean  white,"  who  had  raised  him 
self  in  the  world.  He  lived  in  a  three-roomed 
wooden  cabin,  and  in  one  of  the  rooms  he  kept 
his  wife  shut  up  from  the  strangers'  gaze.  One 
of  his  negroes  was  unwell,  and  he  took  Deasy  to 
see  him.  The  result  of  his  examination  was, 
"Nigger!  I  guess  you  won't  live  more  than  an 
hour."  His  diagnosis  was  quite  correct. 

Before  my  departure  I  had  a  little  farewell 
levee — Mr.  Toombs,  Mr.  Browne,  Mr.  Benjamin, 
Mr.  Walker,  Major  Deas,  Colonel  Pickett,  Major 
Calhoun,  Captain  Ripley,  and  others — who  were 
exceedingly  kind  with  letters  of  introduction  and 
offers  of  service.  Dined  as  usual  on  a  composite 
dinner — Southern  meat  and  poultry  bad  — at 
three  o'clock,  and  at  four  r.M.  drove  down  to  the 
steep  banks  of  the  Alabama  River,  where  the 
castle-like  hulk  of  the  "  Southern  Republic"  was 
waiting  to  receive  us.  I  bade  good-by  to  Mont 
gomery  without  regret.  The  native  people  were 
not  very  attractive,  and  the  city  has  nothing  to 
make  up  for  their  deficiency,  but  of  my  friends 
there  I  must  always  retain  pleasant  memories, 
and,  indeed,  I  hope  some  day  I  shall  be  able  to 
keep  my  promise  to  return  and  see  more  of  the 
Confederate  ministers  and  their  chief. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  River  Alabama  —  Voyage  by  steamer — Selma — Otir 
captain  and  his  slaves  —  "  Running"  slaves  —  Negro 
views  of  happiness  —  Mobile  —  Hotel  —  The  city — Mr. 
Forsyth. 

THE  vessel  was  nothing  more  than  a  vast  wood 
en  house,  of  three  separate  storeys,  floating  on  a 
pontoon  which  upheld  the  engine,  with  a  dining- 
hall  or  saloon  on  the  second  storey  surrounded 
by  sleeping-berths,  and  a  nest  of  smaller  rooms 
up-stairs;  on  the  metal  roof  was  a  "musical" 
instrument  called  a  "  calliope,"  played  like  a  pi 
ano  by  keys,  which  acted  on  levers  and  valves, 
admitting  steam  into  metal  cups,  where  it  pro 
duced  the  requisite  notes — high,  resonant,  and 
not  unpleasing  at  a  moderate  distance.  It  is 
417  miles  to  Mobile,  but  at  this  season  the  steam 
er  can  maintain  a  good  rate  of  speed,  as  there  is 
very  little  cotton  or  cargo  to  be  taken  on  board 
at  the  landings,  and  the  stream  is  full. 

The  river  is  about  200  yards  broad,  and  of  the 
colour  of  chocolate  and  milk,  with  high,  steep, 
wooded  banks,  rising  so  much  above  the  surface 
of  the  stream,  that  a  person  on  the  upper  deck 
of  the  towering  Southern  Republic,  cannot  get 
a  glimpse  of  the  fields  and  country  beyond. 
High  banks  and  bluffs  spring  up  to  the  height  of 
1 50  or  even  200  feet  above  the  river,  the  breadth 
of  which  is  so  uniform  as  to  give  the  Alabama 
the  appearance  of  a  canal,  only  relieved  by  sud 
den  bends  and  rapid  curves.  The  surface  is  cov 
ered  with  masses  of  drift  wood,  whole  trees,  and 
small  islands  of  branches.  Now  and  then  a 
sharp,  black,  fang-like  projection  standing  stiffly 
in  the  current  gives  warning  of  a  snag,  but  the 
helmsman,  who  commands  the  whole  course  of 
the  river,  from  an  elevated  house  amidships  on 
the  upper  deck,  can  see  these  in  time ;  and  at 
night  pine  boughs  are  lighted  in  iron  cressets  at 
the  bows  to  illuminate  the  water. 

^  The  captain,  who  was  not  particular  whether 
his  name  was  spelt  Maher,  or  Mealier,  or  Meagh- 
er  (Yes  trois  se  disent),  was  evidently  a  character 


— perhaps  a  good  one.  One  with  a  grey  eye  full 
of  cunning  and  of  some  humour,  strongly-mark 
ed  features,  and  a  very  Celtic  mouth  of  the  Ker 
ry  type.  He  soon  attached  himself  to  me,  and 
favoured  me  with  some  wonderful  yarns,  which  I 
hope  he  was  not  foolish  enough  to  think  I  be 
lieved.  One  relating  to  a  wholesale  destruction 
and  massacre  of  Indians  he  narrated  with  evi 
dent  gusto.  Pointing  to  one  of  the  bluffs,  he 
said  that  some  thirty  years  ago  the  whole  of  the 
Indians  in  the  district  being  surrounded  by  the 
whites,  betook  themselves  to  that  spot,  and  re 
mained  there  without  any  means  of  escape,  till 
they  were  quite  starved  out.  So  they  sent  down 
to  know  if  the  whites  would  let  them  go,  and  it 
was  agreed  that  they  should  be  permitted  to 
move  down  the  river  in  boats.  When  the  day 
came,  and  they  were  all  afloat,  the  whites  antici 
pated  the  boat-massacre  of  Nana  Sahib  at  Cawn- 
pore,  and  destroyed  the  helpless  red  skins.  Many 
hundreds  thus  perished,  and  the  whole  affair  was 
very  much  approved  of. 

The  value  of  land  on  the  sides  of  this  river  is 
great,  as  it  yields  nine  to  eleven  bales  of  cotton 
to  the  acre — worth  10/.  a  bale  at  present  prices. 
The  only  evidences  of  this  wealth  to  be  seen  by 
us  consisted  of  the  cotton  sheds  on  the  top  of 
the  banks,  and  slides  of  timber,  with  steps  at 
each  side  down  to  the  landings,  so  constructed 
that  the  cotton  bales  could  be  shot  down  on 
board  the  vessel.  These  shoots  and  staircases 
are  generally  protected  by  a  roof  of  planks,  and 
lead  to  unknown  regions  inhabited  by  niggers 
and  their  masters,  the  latter  all  talking  politics. 
They  never  will,  never  can  be  conquered — noth 
ing  on  earth  could  induce  them  to  go  back  into 
the  Union.  They  will  burn  every  bale  of  cot 
ton,  and  fire  every  house,  and  lay  waste  every 
field  and  homestead  before  they  will  yield  to  the 
Yankees.  And  so  they  talk  through  the  glim 
mering  of  bad  cigars  for  hours. 

The  management  of  the  boat  is  dexterous, — as 
she  approaches  a  landing-place,  the  helm  is  put 
hard  over,  to  the  screaming  of  the  steam-pipe 
and  the  wild  strains  of  "  Dixie"  floating  out  of 
the  throats  of  the  calliope,  and  as  the  engines  are 
detached,  one  wheel  is  worked  forward,  and  the 
other  backs  water,  so  she  soon  turns  head  up 
stream,  and  is  then  gently  paddled  up  to  the 
river  bank,  to  which  she  is  just  kept  up  by  steam 
— the  plank  is  run  ashore,  and  the  few  passengers 
who  are  coming  in  or  out  are  lighted  on  their 
way  by  the  flames  of  pine  in  an  iron  basket, 
swinging  above  the  bow  by  a  long  pole.  Then 
we  see  them  vanishing  into  black  darkness  up  the 
steps,  or  coming  clown  clearer  and  clearer  till 
they  stand  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  beacon  which 
casts  dark  shadows  on  the  yellow  water.  The 
air  is  glistening  with  fire-flies,  which  dot  the 
darkness  with  specks  and  points  of  flame,  just  as 
sparks  fly  through  the  embers  of  tinder  or  half- 
burnt  paper. 

Some  of  the  landings  were  by  far  more  im 
portant  than  others.  There  were  some,  for  ex 
ample,  where  an  iron  rail-road  was  worked  down 
the  bank  by  windlasses  for  hoisting  up  goods ; 
others  where  the  negroes  half -naked  leaped 
ashore,  and  rushing  at  piles  of  firewood,  tossed 
them  on  board  to  feed  the  engine,  which,  all 
uncovered  and  open  to  the  lower  deck,  lighted 
up  the  darkness  by  the  glare  from  the  stoke 
holes,  which  cried  for  ever  "  Give,  give !"  as  the 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


negroes  ceaselessly  thrust  the  pine-beams  into 
their  hungry  maws.  I  could  understand  how 
easily  a  steamer  can  "burn  up,"  and  how  hope 
less  escape  would  be  under  such  circumstances. 
The  whole  framework  of  the  vessel  is  of  the 
lightest  resinous  pine,  so  raw  that  the  turpentine 
oozes  out  through  the  paint ;  the  hull  is  a  mere 
shell.  If  the  vessel  once  caught  fire,  all  that 
could  be  done  would  be  to  turn  her  round,  and 
run  her  to  the  bank,  in  the  hope  of  holding  there 
long  enough  to  enable  the  people  to  escape  into 
the  trees ;  but  if  she  were  not  near  a  landing, 
many  must  be  lost ;  as  the  bank  is  steep  down, 
the  vessel  cannot  be  run  aground ;  and  in  some 
places  the  trees  are  in  8  and  10  feet  of  water. 
A  few  minutes  would  suffice  to  set  the  vessel  in 
a  blaze  from  stem  to  stern  ;  and  if  there  were 
cotton  on  board,  the  bales  would  burn  almost 
like  powder.  The  scene  at  each  landing  was 
repeated,  with  few  variations,  ten  times  till  we 
reached  Selma,  110  miles  distance,  at  11.30  at 
night.  , 

Selma,  which  is  connected  with  the  Tennessee 
and  Mississippi  rivers  by  railroad,  is  built  upon 
a  steep,  lofty  bluff,  and  the  lights  in  the  windows, 
and  the  lofty  hotels  above  us,  put  me  in  mind  of 
the  old  town  of  Edinburgh,  seen  from  Princes 
Street.  Beside  us  there  was  a  huge  storied 
wharf,  so  that  our  passengers  could  step  on  shore 
from  any  deck  they  pleased.  Here  Mr.  Deasy, 
being  attacked  by  illness,  became  alarmed  at 
the  idea  of  continuing  his  journey  without  any 
opportunity  of  medical  assistance,  and  went  on 
shore. 

May  10th. — The  cabin  of  one  of  these  steamers, 
in  the  month  of  May,  is  not  favourable  to  sleep. 
The  wooden  beams  of  the  engines  creak  and 
scream  "consumedly,"  and  the  great  engines 
themselves  throb  as  if  they  would  break  through 
their  thin,  pulse  covers  of  pine,— and  the  whistle 
sounds,  and  the  calliope  shrieks  out  "  Dixie"  in 
cessantly .  So,  when  I  was  up  and  dressed,  break 
fast  was  over,  and  I  had  an  opportunity  of  see 
ing  the  slaves  on  board,  male  and  female,  acting 
as  stewards  and  stewardesses,  at  their  morning 
meal,  which  they  took  with  much  good  spirits 
and  decorum.  They  were  nicely  dressed — clean 
and  neat.  I  was  forced  to  admit  to  myself  that 
their  Ashantee  grandsires  and  grandmothers,  or 
their  Kroo  and  Dahomey  progenitors  were  cer 
tainly  less  comfortable  and  well  clad,  and  that 
these  slaves  had  other  social  advantages,  though 
I  could  not  recognise  the  force  of  the  Bishop  of 
Georgia's  assertion,  that  from  slavery  must  come 
the  sole  hope  of,  and  machinery  for,  the  evan- 
gelis'ation  of  Africa.  I  confess  I  would  not  give 
much  for  the  influence  of  the  stewards  and  stew 
ardesses  in  Christianising  the  blacks. 

The  river,  the  scenery,  and  the  scenes  were 
just  the  same  as  yesterday's — high  banks,  cotton- 
slides,  wooding  stations,  cane-brakes — and  a  very 
miserable  negro  population,  if  the  specimens  of 
women  and  children  at  the  landings  fairly  rep 
resented  the  mass  of  the  slaves.  They  were  in 
strong  contrast  to  the  comfortable,  well-dressed 
domestic  slaves  on  board,  and  it  can  well  be 
imagined  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the 
classes,  and  that  those  condemned  to  work  in  the 
open  fields  must  suffer  exceedingly. 

A  passenger  told  us  the  captain's  story.  A 
number  of  planters,  the  narrator  among  them, 
subscribed  a  thousand  dollars  each  to  get  up  a 


vessel  for  the  purpose  of  running  a  cargo  of 
slaves,  with  the  understanding  they  were  to  pay 
so  much  for  the  vessel,  and  so  much  per  head  if 
she  succeeded,  and  so  much  if  she  was  taken  or 
lost.  The  vessel  made  her  voyage  to  the  coast, 
was  laden  with  native  Africans,  and  in  due  .time 
made  her  appearance  off  Mobile.  The  collector 
heard  of  her,  but,  oddly  enough,  the  sheriff  was 
not  about  at  the  time,  the  United  States'  Marshal 
was  away,  and  as  the  vessel  could  not  be  seen 
next  morning,  it  was  fair  to  suppose  she  had 
gone  up  the  river,  or  somewhere  or  another.  But 
it  so  happened  that  Captain  Maher,  then  com 
manding  a  river  steamer  called  the  Czar  (a  name 
once  very  appropriate  for  the  work,  but  since  the 
serf  emancipation  rather  out  of  place),  found  him 
self  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  brig  about  night 
fall  ;  next  morning,  indeed,  the  Czar  was  at  her 
moorings  in  the  river;  but  Captain  Maher  be 
gan  to  grow  rich,  he  had  fine  negroes  fresh  run 
on  his  land,  and  bought  fresh  acres,  and  finally 
built  the  "Southern  Republic."  The  planters 
asked  him  for  their  share  of  the  slaves.  Captain 
Maher  laughed  pleasantly;  he  did  not  under 
stand  what  they  meant.  If  he  had  done  any 
thing  wrong  they  had  their  legal  remedy.  They 
were  completely  beaten ;  for  they  could  not  haVe 
recourse  to  the  tribunals  in  a  case  which  render 
ed  them  liable  to  capital  punishment.  And  so 
Captain  Maher,  as  an  act  of  grace,  gave  them  a 
few  old  niggers,  and  kept  the  rest  of  the  cargo. 

It  was  worth  while  to  see  the  leer  with  which 
he  listened  to  this  story  about  himself,  "Wall 
now !  You  think  them  niggers  I've  abord  came 
from  Africa!  I'll  show  you.  Just  come  up  here, 
Bully !"  A  boy  of  some  twelve  years  of  age, 
stout,  fat,  nearly  naked,  came  up  to  us  ;  his  col 
our  was  jet  black,  his  wool  close  as  felt,  his 
cheeks  were  marked  with  regular  parallel  scars, 
and  his  teeth  very  white,  looked  as  if  they  had 
been  filed  to  a  point,  his  belly  was  slightly  pro 
tuberant,  and  his  chest  was  marked  with  tracings 
of  tattoo  marks. 

'What's  your  name,  sir?" 
'My  name — Bully." 
'Where  were  you  born?" 
'Me  born  Sout  Karliner,  sar!" 
'  There,  you  see  he  wasn't  taken  from  Afri 
ca,  "exclaimed  the  Captain,  knowingly.     "I've 
a  lot  of  these    black    South   Caroliny   niggers 
abord,  haven't  I,  Bully?" 

"Yas,  sar." 

"Are  you  happy,  Bully  ?" 

"Yas,  sar." 

"  Show  how  you're  happy." 

Here  the  boy  rubbed  his  stomach,  and  grin 
ning  with  delight,  said,  "Y"ummy!  yummy! 
plenty  belly  full." 

"That's  what  I  call  a  real  happy  feelosoph- 
ical  chap,"  quoth  the  Captain.  "  I  guess  you've 
got  a  lot  in  your  country  can't  pat  their  stomachs 
and  say,  'yummy,  yummy,  plenty  belly  full?'" 

"Where  did  he  get  those  marks  on  his  face?" 

' '  Oh,  them  ?  Wall,  it's  a  way  them  nigger 
women  has  of  marking  their  children  to  know 
them;  isn't  it,  Bully?" 

"Yas,  sar  !  me  'spose  so !" 

"And  on  his  chest J" 

"Wall,  r'ally  I  do  b'l'eve  them's  marks  agin 
the  smallpox." 

"Why  are  his  teeth  filed?" 

"  Ah/there  now!     You'd  never  have  guessed 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


75 


it ;  Bully  done  that  himself,  for  the  greater  ease 
of  biting  his  vittels." 

In  fact,  the  lad,  and  a  good  many  of  the 
hands,  were  the  results  of  Captain  Maher's  little 
sail  in  the  Czar. 

1  "We're  obleeged  to  let  'em  in  some  times  to 
keep  up  the  balance  agin  the  niggers  you  run 
into  Canaydy." 

From  1848  to  1852  there  were  no  slaves  run ; 
but  since  the  migrations  to  Canada  and  the  per- 
\    sonal  liberty  laws,  it  has  been  found  profitable  to 
V  run  them.     There  is   a  bucolic  ferocity  about 
these  Southern  people   which   will  stand  them 
good  stead  in  the  shock   of  battle.     Haw  the 
Spartans  would  have  fought   against  any  bar 
barians  who  came  to  emancipate  their  slaves,  or 
the   Romans   have    smitten   those   who  would 
manumit  slave  and  creditor  together ! 

To-night,  on  the  lower  deck,  amid  wood  fag 
gots  and  barrels,  a  dance  of  negroes  was  ar 
ranged  by  an  enthusiast,  who  desired  to  show 
how  "happy  they  were."  That  is  the  favourite 
theme  of  the  Southerners  ;  the  gallant  Captain 
Maher  becomes  quite  eloquent  when  he  points 
to  Bully's  prominent  "yummy,"  and  descants 
on  the  misery  of  his  condition  if  he  had  been  left 
to  the  precarious  chances  of  obtaining  such  de 
velopments  in  his  native  land ;  then  turns  a  quid, 
and,  as  if  uttering  some  sacred  refrain  to  the 
universal  hymn  of  the  South,  says,  "  Yes,  sir, 
they're  the  happiest  people  on  the  face  of  the 
airth!" 

There  was  a  fiddler,  and  also  a  banjo-player, 
who  played  uncouth  music  to  the  clumsiest  of 
dances,  which  it  would  be  insulting  to  compare 
to  the  worst  Irish  jig,  and  the  men  with  immense 
gravity  and  great  effusion  of  sudor,  shuffled,  and 
cut,  and  heeled  and  buckled  to  each  other  with 
an  overwhelming  solemnity,  till  the  rum-bottle 
warmed  them  up  to  the  lighter  graces  of  the 
dance,  when  they  became  quite  overpowering. 
"  Yes,  sir,  jist  look  at  them  how  they're  enjoying 
it ;  they're  the  happiest  people  on  the  face  of  the 
airth."  When  "  wooding"  and  firing  up  they 
don't  seem  to  be  in  the  possession  of  the  same 
exquisite  felicity. 

May  llth. — At  early  dawn  the  steamer  went 
its  way  through  a  broad  bay  of  snags  bordered 
with  drift-wood,  and  with  steam-trumpet  and  cal 
liope  announced  its  arrival  at  the  quay  of  Mo 
bile,  which  presented  a  fringe  of  tall  warehouses, 
and  shops  alongside,  over  whicli  were  names  in 
dicating  Scotch,  Irish,  English,  many  Spanish, 
German,  Italian,  and  French  owners,  Captain 
Maher  at  once  set  off  to  his  plantation,  and  we 
descended  the  stories  of  the  walled  castle  to  the 
beach,  and  walked  on  towards  the  "  Battle 
House,"  so  called  from  the  name  of  its  propri 
etor,  for  Mobile  has  not  yet  had  its  fight  like 
New  Orleans.  The  quays  which  usually,  as  we 
were  told,  are  lined  with  stately  hulls  and  a  forest 
of  masts,  were  deserted ;  although  the  port  was 
not  actually  blockaded,  there  were  squadrons  of 
the  United  States  ships  at  Pensacola  on  the  east, 
and  at  New  Orleans  on  the  west. 

The  hotel,  a  fine  building  of  the  American 
stamp,  was  the  seat  of  a  Vigilance  Committee, 
and  as  we  put  down  our"  names  in  the  book  they 
were  minutely  inspected  by  some  gentlemen 
who  came  out  of  the  parlour.  It  was  fortunate 
they  did  not  find  traces  of  Lincolnism  about  us, 
as  it  appeared  by  the  papers  they  were  busy  de 


porting  "Abolitionists"  after  certain  preliminary 
processes  supposed  to 

u  Give  them  a  rise,  and  open  their  eyes 
To  a  sense  of  their  situation." 

The  citizens  were  busy  in  drilling,  marching,  and 
drum-beating,  and  the  Confederate  flag  flew  from 
every  spire  and  steeple.  The  day  was  so  hot 
that"  it  was  little  more  inviting  to  go  out  in  the 
sun  than  it  would  be  in  the  dog-days  at  Malaga, 
to  which,  by-the-bye,  Mobile  bears  some  "  kinder 
!  sorter"  resemblance,  but,  nevertheless,  I  sallied 
I  forth,  and  had  a  drive  on  a  shell  road  by  the 
head  of  the  bay,  where  there  were  pretty  villa- 
rettes  in  charming  groves  of  magnolia,  orange- 
trees,  and  lime  oaks.  Wide  streets  of  similar 
houses  spring  out  to  meet  the  country  through 
.sandy  roads ;  some  worthy  of  Streatham  or  Bal- 
ham,  and  all  surrounded  in  such  vegetation  as 
Kew  might  envy. 

Many  Mobilians  called,  and  among  them  the 
mayor,  Mr.  Forsyth,  in  whom  I  recognized  the 
most  remarkable  of  the  Southern  Commissioners 
I  had  met  at  Washington.  Mr.  Magee,  the  act 
ing  British  Consul,  was  also  good  enough  to  wait 
upon  me,  with  offers  of  any  assistance  in  his 
power.  I  hear  he  has  most  difficult  questions  to 
deal  with,  arising  out  of  the  claims  of  distressed 
British  subjects,  and  disputed  nationality.  In 
the  evening  the  Consul  and  Dr.  Nott,  a  savant 
and  physician  of  Mobile,  well  known  to  ethnol 
ogists  for  his  work  on  the  "Types  of  Mankind," 
written  conjointly  with  the  late  Mr.  Gliddon, 
dined  with  me,  and  I  learned  from  them  that, 
notwithstanding  the  intimate  commercial  rela 
tions  between  Mobile  and  the  Great  Northern 
cities,  the  people  here  are  of  the  most  ultra-se 
cessionist  doctrines.  The  wealth  and  manhood 
of  the  city  will  be  devoted  to  repel  the  "Lincoln- 
ite  mercenaries"  to  the  last. 

After  dinner  we  walked  through  the  city,  which 
abounds  in  oyster  saloons,  drinking-houses,  lager- 
bier  and  wine-shops,  and  gambling  and  dancing 
places.  The  market  was  well  worthy  of  a  visit 
— something  like  St.  John's  at  Liverpool  on  a 
Saturday  right,  crowded  with  negroes,  mulat- 
toes,  quadroons,  and  mestizos  of  all  sorts,  Span 
ish,  Italian,  and  French,  speaking  their  own 
tongues,  or  a  quaint  lingua  franca,  and  dressed 
in  very  striking  and  pretty  costumes.  The  fruit 
and  vegetable  stalls  displayed  very  fine  produce, 
and  some  staples,  remarkable  fojr  novelty,  ugli 
ness,  and  goodness.  After  our 'stroll  we  went 
into  one  of  the  great  oyster  saloons,  and  in  a 
room  up-stairs  had  opportunity  of  tasting  those 
great  bivalvians  in  the  form  of  natural  fish  pud 
dings,  fried  in  batter,  roasted,  stewed,  devilled, 
broiled,  and  in  many  other  ways,  plus  raw.  I 
am  bound  to  observe  that  the  Mobile  people  ate 
them  as  if  there  was  no  blockade,  as  though 
oysters  were  a  specific  for  political  indigestions 
and  civil  wars ;  a  fierce  Marseillais  are  they — 
living  in  the  most  foreign-looking  city  I  have 
yet  seen  in  the  States.  My  private  room  in  the 
hotel  was  large,  well-lighted  with  gas,  and  ex 
ceedingly  well  furnished  in  the  German  fashion, 
with  French  pendule  and  mirrors.  The  charge 
for  a  private  room  varies  from  I/,  to  ll.  5s.  a 
day ;  the  bed-room  and  board  are  .charged  sepa 
rately,  from  10s.  Qd.  to  12s.  Qd.  a  day,  but  meals 
j  served  in  the  private  room  are  charged  extra, 
'  and  heavily  too.  Exclusiveness  is  an  aristocratic 
taste  which  must  be  paid  for. 


76 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


Visit  to  Forts  Gaines  and  Morgan— War  to  the  knife  the 
cry  of  the  South— The  u  State"  and  the  u  States"— Bay 
of  Mobile — The  forts  and  their  inmates — Opinions  as  to 
an  attack  on  Washington — Rumours  of  actual  war. 

May  12th. — Mr.  Forsyth  had  been  good  enough 
to  invite  me  to  an  excursion  down  the  Bay  of 
Mobile,  to  the  forts  built  by  Uncle  Sam  and  his 
French  engineers  to  sink  his  Britishers — now 
turned  by  "C.  S.  A."  against  the  hated  Stars 
and  Stripes.  The  mayor  and  the  principal  mer 
chants  and  many  politicians — and  are  not  all 
men  politicians  in  America  ? — formed  the  party. 
If  any  judgment  of  men's  acts  can  be  formed 
from  their  words,  the  Mobilites,  who  are  the  rep 
resentatives  of  the  third  greatest  port  of  the  Unit 
ed  States,  will  perish  ere  they  submit  to  the  Yan 
kees  and  people  of  New  York.  I  have  now  been 
in  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ala 
bama,  and  in  none  of  these  great  States  have  I 
found  the  least  indication  of  the  Union  senti 
ment,  or  of  the  attachment  for  the  Union  which 
Mr.  Seward  always  assumes  to  exist  in  the  South. 
If  there  were  any  considerable  amount  of  it,  I 
•  was  in  a  position  as  a  neutral  to  have  been  aware 
of  its  existence. 

Those  who  might  have  at  one  time  opposed 
secession,  have  now  bowed  their  heads  to  the 
majesty  of  the'  majority ;  and  with  the  coward 
ice,  which  is  the  result  of  the  irresponsible  and 
cruel  tyranny  of  the  multitude,  hasten  to  swell 
the  cry  of  revolution.  But  the  multitude  are 
the  law  in  the  United  States.  "There's  a  di 
vinity  doth  hedge"  the  mob  here,  which  is  om 
nipotent  and  all  good.  The  majority  in  each 
State  determines  its  political  status  according  to 
Southern  views.  The  Northerners  are  endeav 
ouring  to  maintain  that  the  majority  of  the  peo 
ple  in  the  mass  of  the  States  generally  shall 
regulate  that  point  for  each  State  individually 
and  collectively.  If  there  be  any  party  in  the 
Southern  States  which  thinks  such  an  attempt 
justifiable,  it  sits  silent,  and  fearful,  and  hope 
less,  in  darkness  and  sorrow,  hid  from  the  light 
of  day.  General  Scott,  who  was  a  short  time 
ago  written  of  in  the  usual  inflated  style,  to  which 
respectable  military  mediocrity  and  success  are 
entitled  in  the  States,  is  now  reviled  by  the  South 
ern  papers  as  an  infamous  hoAry  traitor  and  the 
like.  If  an  officer  prefers  his  allegiance  to  the 
United  States'  flag,  and  remains  in  the  Federal 
service  after  his  State  has  gone  out,  his  property 
is  liable  to  confiscation  by  the  State  authorities, 
and  his  family  and  kindred  are  exposed  to  the 
gravest  suspicion,  and  must  prove  their  loyalty 
by  extra  zeal  in  the  cause  of  secession. 

Our  merry  company  comprised  naval  and  mili 
tary  officers  in  the  service  of  the  Confederate 
States,  journalists,- politicians,  professional  men, 
merchants,  and  not  one  of  them  had  a  word  but 
of  hate  and  execration  for  the  North.  The  Brit 
ish  and  German  settlers  are  quite  as  vehement  as 
the  natives  in  upholding  States'  rights,  and  among 
the  most  ardent  upholders  of  slavery  are  the  Irish 
proprietors  and  mercantile  classes. 

The  Bay  of  Mobile,  which  is  about  thirty  miles 
long,  with  a  breadth  varying  from  three  to  seven 
miles,  is  formed  by  the  outfall  of  the  Alabama 
and  of  the  Tombigbee  river,  and  is  shallow  and 
dangerous,  full  of  banks  and  trees,  embedded  in 
the  sands ;  but  all  large  vessels  lie  at  the  entrance 
between  Fort  Morgan  and  Fort  Gaines,  to  the 


satisfaction  of  the  masters,  who  are  thus  spared 
the  trouble  with  their  crews  which  occurs  in  the 
low  haunts  of  a  maritime  town.  The  cotton  is 
sent  down  in  lighters,  which  employ  many  hands 
at  high  wages.  The  shores  are  low  wooded,  and 
are  dotted  here  and  there  with  pretty  villas,  but 
present  no  attractive  scenery. 

The  sea-breeze  somewhat  alleviated  the  fierce 
ness  of  the  sun,  which  was  however  too  hot  to 
be  quite  agreeable.  Our  steamer,  crowded  to  the 
sponsons,  made  little  way  against  the  tide;  but 
at  length,  after  nearly  four  hours'  sail,  we  hauled 
up  alongside  a  jetty  at  Fort  Gaines,  which  is  on 
the  right  hand  or  western  exit  of  the  harbour, 
and  would  command,  were  it  finished,  the  light 
draft  channel ;  it  is  now  merely  a  shell  of  ma 
sonry,  but  Colonel  Hardee,  who  has  charge  of  the 
defences  of  Mobile,  told  me  that  they  would  finish 
it  speedily. 

The  Colonel  is  an  agreeable,  delicate-looking 
man,  scarcely  of  middle  age,  and  is  well-known 
in  the  States  as  the  author  of  "The  Tactics," 
which  is,  however,  merely  a  translation  of  the 
French  manual  of  arms.  He  does  not  appear  to 
be  possessed  of  any  great  energy  or  capacity, 
but  is,  no  doubt,  a  respectable  officer. 

Upon  landing  we  found  a  small  body  of  men 
on  guard  in  the  fort.  A  few  cannon  of  mod 
erate  calibre  were  mounted  on  the  sandhills  and 
on  the  beach.  We  entered  the  unfinished  work, 
and  were  received  with  a  salute.  The  men  felt 
difficulty  in  combining  discipline  with  citizen 
ship.  They  were  "bored"  with  their  sandhill, 
and  one  of  them  asked  me  when  I  "thought  them 
damned  Yankees  were  coming.  He  wanted  to 
touch  off  a  few  pills  he  knew  would  be  good  for 
their  complaint."  I  must  say  I  could  sympa 
thise  with  the  feelings  of  the  young  officer  who 
said  he  would  sooner  have  a  day  with  the  Lin- 
colnites,  than  a  week  with  the  musquitoes.  for 
which  this  locality  is  famous. 

From  Fort  Gaines  the  steamer  ran  across  to 
Fort  Morgan,  about  three  miles  distant,  passing 
in  its  way  seven  vessels,  mostly  British,  at  anchor, 
where  hundreds  may  be  seen,  I  am  told,  during 
the  cotton  season.  This  work  has  a  formidable 
sea  face,  and  may  give  great  trouble  to  Uncle 
Sam,  when  he  wants  to  visit  his  loving  subjects 
in  Mobile  in  his  gunboats.  It  is  the  work  of 
Bernard,  I  presume,  and  like  most  of  his  designs 
has  a  weak  long  base  towards  the  land ;  but  it 
is  provided  with  a  wet  ditch  and  drawbridge, 
with  demi  lunes  covering  the  curtains,  and  has 
a  regular  bastioned  trace.  It  has  one  row  of 
casemates,  armed  with  32  and  42-pounders.  The 
barbette  guns  are  8-inch  and  10-inch  guns ;  the 
external  works  at  the  salients  are  armed  with 
howitzers  and  field-pieces,  and  as  we  crossed  the 
drawbridge,  a  salute  was  fired  from  a  field  bat 
tery,  on  a  flanking  bastion,  in  our  honour. 

Inside  the  work  was  crammed  with  men,  some 
of  whom  slept  in  the  casemates — others  in  tents 
in  the  parade  grounds  and  enceinte  of  the  fort. 
They  were  Alabama  Volunteers,  and  as  sturdy 
a  lot  of  fellows  as  ever  shouldered  musket ;  dress 
ed  in  homespun  coarse  grey  suits,  with  blue  and 
yellow  worsted  facings  and  stripes — to  European 
eyes  not  very  respectful  to  their  officers,  but  very 
obedient,  I  am  told,  and  very  peremptorily  or 
dered  about,  as  I  heard. 

There  were  700  or  800  men  in  the  work,  and 
an  undue  proportion  of  officers,  all  of  whom 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


77 


were  introduced  to  the  strangers  in  turn.  The 
officers  were  a  very  gentlemanly,jiice-looking  set 
of  young  fellows,  and  some  of  them  had  just 
come  over  from  Europe  to  take  up  arms  for  their 
State.  I  forget  the  name  of  the  officer  in  com 
mand,  though  I  cannot  forget  his  courtesy,  nor 
an  excellent  lunch  he  gave  us  in  his  casemate 
after  a  hot  walk  round  the  parapets,  and  some 
practice  with  solid  shot  from  the  barbette  guns, 
which  did  not  tend  to  make  me  think  much  of 
the  greatly-be-praised  Columbiads. 

One  of  the  officers  named  Maury,  a  relative 
of  "deep-sea  Maury,"  struck  me  as  an  ingen 
ious  and  clever  officer ;  the  utmost  harmony, 
kindliness,  and  devotion  to  the  cause  prevailed 
among  the  garrison,  from  the  chief  down  to  the 
youngest  ensign.  In  its  present  state  the  Fort 
would  suffer  exceedingly  from  a  heavy  bombard 
ment — the  magazines  would  be  in  danger,  and 
the  traverses  are  inadequate.  All  the  barracks 
and  wooden  buildings  should  be  destroyed  if  they 
wish  to  avoid  the  fate  of  Sumter. 

On  our  cruise  homewards,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  a  cold  dinner,  we  had  the  inevitable  discus 
sion  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  contest.  Mr. 
Forsyth,  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  "Mo 
bile  Register,"  is  impassioned  for  the  cause, 
though  he  was  not  at  one  time  considered  a  pure 
Southerner.  There  is  difference  of  opinion  rel 
ative  to  an  attack  on  Washington.  General  St. 
George  Cooke,  commanding  the  army  of  Vir 
ginia  on  the  Potomac,  declares  there  is  no  in 
tention  of  attacking  it,  or  any, place  outside  the 
limits  of  that  free  and  sovereign  State.  But  then 
the  conduct  of  the  Federal  Government  in  Mary 
land  is  considered  by  the  more  fiery  Southerners 
to  justify  the  expulsion  of  "  Lincoln  and  his  Myr 
midons,*"  "  the  Border  Ruffians  and  Cassius  M. 
Clay,"  from  the  capital.  Butler  has  seized  on 
the  Relay  House,  on  the  junction  of  the  Balti 
more  and  Ohio  Railroad,  with  the  rail  from 
Washington,  and  has  displayed  a  good  deal  of 
vigour  since  his  arrival  at  Annapolis.  He  is  a 
democrat,  and  a  celebrated  criminal  lawyer  in 
Massachusetts.  Troops  are  pouring  into  New 
York,  and  are  preparing  to  attack  Alexandria, 
on  the  Virginia  side,  below  Washington  and  the 
Navy  Yard,  where  a  large  Confederate  flag  is  fly 
ing,  which  can  be  seen  from  the  President's  win 
dows  in  the  White  House. 

There  is  a  secret  soreness  even  here  at  the 
small  effect  produced  in  England  compared  with 
what  they  anticipated  by  the  attack  on  Sumter ; 
but  hopes  are  excited  that  Mr.  Gregory,  who  was 
travelling  through  the  States  some  time  ago,  will 
have  a  strong  party  to  support  his  forthcoming 
motion  for  a  recognition  of  the  South.  The  next 
conflict  which  takes  place  will  be  more  bloody 
than  that  at  Sumter.  The  gladiators  are  ap 
proaching—Washington,  Annapolis,  Pennsylva 
nia  are  military  departments,  each  with  a  chief 
and  Staff,  to  which  is  now  added  that  of  Ohio, 
under  Major  G.  B.  M'Clellan,  Major  General  of 
Ohio  Volunteers  at  Cincinnati.  The  authorities 
on  each  side  are  busy  administering  oaths  of  al 
legiance. 

The  harbour  of  Charleston  is  reported  to  be 
under  blockade  by  the  Niagara  steam  frigate,  and 
a  force  of  United  States'  troops  at  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  under  Captain  Lyon,  has  attacked  and 
dispersed  a  body  of  State  Militia  under  one  Brig 
adier  General  Frost,  to  the  intense  indignation 


of  all  Mobile.  The  argument  is,  that  Missouri 
gave  up  the  St.  Louis  Arsenal  to  the  United 
States'  Government,  arid  could  take  it  back  if  she 
pleased,  and  was  certainly  competent  to  prevent 
the  United  States'  troops  stirring  beyond  the  Ar 
senal. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Pensacola  and  Fort  Pickens — Neutrals  and  their  friends — 
Coasting— Sharks— The  blockading  fleet— The  stars  and 
stripes,  and  stars  and  bars — Domestic  fends  caused  by 
the  war — Captain  Adams  and  General  Bragg— Interior 
of  Fort  Pickens. 

May  13th. — I  was  busy  making  arrangements 
to  get  to  Pensacola,  and  Fort  Pickens,  all  day. 
The  land  journey  was  represented  as  being  most 
tedious  and  exceedingly  comfortless  in  all  re 
spects,  through  a  waste  of  sand,  in  which  we  ran 
the  chance  of  being  smothered  or  lost.  And 
then  I  had  set  my  mind  on  seeing  Fort  Pickens 
as  well  as  Pensacola,  and  it  would  be  difficult,  to 
say  the  least  of  it,  to  get  across  from  an  enemy's 
camp  to  the  Federal  fortress,  and  then  return 
again.  The  United  States'  squadron  blockaded 
the  port  of  Pensacola,  but  I  thought  it  likely 
they  would  permit  me  to  run  in  to  visit  Fort 
Pickens,  and  that  the  Federals  would  allow  me 
to  sail  thence  across  to  General  Bragg,  as  they 
might  be  assured  I  would  not  communicate  any 
information  of  what  I  had  seen  in  my  character 
as  neutral  to  any  but  the  journal  in  Europe, 
which  I  represented,  and  in  the  interests  of 
which  I  was  bound  to  see  and  report  all  that  I 
could  as  to  the  state  of  both  parties.  It  was,  at 
all  events,  worth  while  to  make  the  attempt,  and 
after  a  long  search  I  heard  of  a  schooner  which 
was  ready  for  the  voyage  at  a  reasonable  rate, 
all  things  considered. 

Mr.  Forsyth  asked  if  I  had  any  objection  to 
take  with  me  three  gentlemen  of  Mobile,  who 
were  anxious  to  be  of  the  party,  as  they  wanted 
to  see  their  friends  at  Pensacola,  where  it  was 
believed  a  "fight"  was  to  come  off  immediately. 
Since  I  came  South  I  have  seen  the  daily  an 
nouncement  that  "Braxton  Bragg  is  ready," 
and  his  present  state  of  preparation  must  be  be 
yond  all  conception.  But  here  was  a  difficulty. 
I  told  Mr.  Forsyth  that  I  could  not  possibly  as 
sent  to  any  persons  coming  with  me  who  were 
not  neutrals,  or  prepared  to  adhere  to  the  obli 
gations  of  neutrals.  There  was  a  suggestion 
that  I  should  say  these  gentlemen  were  my 
friends,  but  as  I  had  only  seen  two  of  them  on 
board  the  steamer  yesterday,  I  could  not  accede 
to  that  idea.  "Then  if  you  are  asked  if  Mr. 
Ravesies  is  your  friend,  you  will  say  he  is  not." 
"Certainly."  "But  surely  you  don't  wish  to 
have  Mr.  Ravesies  hanged?"  "No,  I  do  not, 
and  I  shall  do  nothing  to  cause  him  to  be  hang 
ed  ;  but  if  he  meets  that  fate  by  his  own  act,  I 
can't  help  it.  I  will  not  allow  him  to  accompany 
me  under  false  pretences." 

At  last  it  was  agreed  that  Mr.  Ravesies  and 
his  friends  Mr.  Bartre  and  Mr.  Lynes,  being  in 
no  way  employed  by  or  connected  with  the  Con 
federate  Government,  should  have  a  place  in  the 
little  schooner  which  we  had  picked  out  at  the 
quayside  and  hired  for  the  occasion,  and  go  on 
the  voyage  with  the  plain  understanding  that 
they  were  to  accept  all  the  consequences  of  being 
citizens  of  Mobile. 


78 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Mr.  Forsyth,  Mr.  Ravesies,  and  a  couple  of 
gentlemen  dined  with  me  in  the  evening.  After 
dinner,  Mr.  Forsyth,  who,  as  mayor  of  the  town, 
is  the  Executive  of  the  Vigilance  Committee, 
took  a  copy  of  Harper's  Illustrated  Paper,  which 
is  a  very  poor  imitation  of  the  Illustrated  London 
News,  and  called  my  attention  to  the  announce 
ment  that  Mr.  Moses,  their  special  artist,  was 
travelling  with  me  in  the  South,  as  well  as  to  an 
engraving,  which  purported  to  be  by  Moses  afore 
said.  I  could  only  say  that  I  knew  nothing  of 
the  young  designer,  except  what  he  told  me,  and 
that  he  led  me  to  believe  he  Avas  furnishing 
sketches  to  the  London  Neivs.  As  he  was  in  the 
hotel,  though  he  did  not  live  with  me,  I  sent  for 
him,  and  the  young  gentleman,  who  was  very 
pale  and  agitated  on  being  shown  the  advertise 
ment  and  sketch,  declared  that  he  had  renounced 
all  connection  with  Harper,  that  he  was  sketch 
ing  for  the  Illustrated  London  News,  and  that 
the  advertisement  was  contrary  to  fact,  and  ut 
terly  unknown  to  him ;  and  so  he  was  let  go 
forth,  and  retired  uneasily.  After  dinner  I  went 
to  the  Bienville  Club.  '"Rule  No.  1"  is,  "No 
gentleman  shall  be  admitted  in  a  state  of  intoxi 
cation."  The  club  very  social,  very  small,  and 
very  hospitable. 

Later  paid  my  respects  to  Mrs.  Forsyth,  whom 
I  found  anxiously  waiting  for  news  of  her  young 
son,  who  had  gone  off  to  join  the  Confederate 
army.  She  told  rne  that  nearly  all  the  ladies  in 
Mobile  are  engaged  in  making  cartridges,  and  in 
preparing  lint  or  clothing  for  the  army.  Not 
the  smallest  fear  is  entertained  of  the  swarming 
black  population. 

May  \±th. — Down  to  our  yacht,  the  Diana, 
which  is  to  be  ready  this  afternoon,  and  saw  her 
cleared  out  a  little — a  broad-beamed,  flat-floored 
schooner,  some  fifty  tons  burthen,  with  a  centre 
board,  badly  caulked,  and  dirty  enough — unfa 
miliar  with  paint.  The  skipper  was  a  long-leg 
ged,  ungainly  young  fellow,  with  long  hair  and 
an  inexpressive  face,  just  relieved  by  the  twinkle 
of  a  very  "Yankee"  eye  ;  but  that  was  all  of  the 
hated  creature  about  him,  for  a  more  earnest  se- 
ceder  I  never  heard. 

His  crew  consisted  of  three  rough,  mechanical 
sort  of  men  and  a  negro  cook.  Having  freight 
ed  the  vessel  with  a  small  stock  of  stores,  a  Brit 
ish  flag,  kindly  lent  by  the  acting  Consul,  Mr. 
Magee,  and  a  tablecloth  to  serve  as  a  flag  of 
truce,  our  party,  consisting  of  the  gentlemen 
previously  named,  Mr.  Ward,  and  the  young  art 
ist,  weighed  from  the  quay  of  Mobile  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  with  the  manifest  appro 
bation  of  the  small  crowd  who  had  assembled  to 
see  us  off,  the  rumour  having  spread  through  the 
town  that  we  were  bound  to  see  the  great  fight. 
The  breeze  was  favourable  and  steady ;  at  nine 
o'clock  P.M.,  the  lights  of  Fort.  Morgan  were  on 
our  port  beam,  and  for  some  time  we  were  ex 
pecting  to  see  the  flash  of  a  gun,  as  the  skipper 
confidently  declared  they  would  never  allow  us 
to  pass  unchallenged. 

The  darkness  of  the  night  might  possibly  have 
favoured  us,  or  the  sentries  were  remiss ;  at  all 
events,  we  were  soon  creeping  through  the 
"Swash,"  which  is  a  narrow  channel  over  the 
bar,  through  which  our  skipper  worked  us  by 
means  of  a  sounding-pole.  The  air  was  delight 
ful,  and  blew  directly  off  the  low  shore,  in  a  line 
parallel  to  which  we  were  moving.  When  the 


evening  vapours  passed  away,  the  stars  shone 
out  brilliantly,-and  though  the  wind  was  strong, 
and  sent  us  at  a  good  eight  knots  through  the 
water,  there  was  scarcely  a  ripple  on  the  sea.  • 
Our  course  lay  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the 
shore,  which  looked  like  a  white  ribbon  fringed 
with  fire,  from  the  ceaseless  play  of  the  phos 
phorescent  surf.  Above  this  belt  of  sand  rose  the 
black,  jagged  outlines  of  a  pine  forest,  through 
which  steal  immense  lagoons  and  marshy  creeks. 

Driftwood  and  trees  strew  the  beach,  and  from 
Fort  Morgan,  for  forty  miles,  to  the  entrance  of 
Pensacola,  not  a  human  habitation  disturbs  the 
domain  sacred  to  alligators,  serpents,  pelicans, 
and  wild-fowl.  Some  of  the  lagoons,  like  the 
Perdida,  swell  into  inland  seas,  deep  buried  in 
pine  woods,  and  known  only  to  the  wild  creatures 
swarming  along  its  brink  and  in  its  waters; 
once,  if  report  says  true,  frequented,  however,  by 
the  filibusters  and  by  the  pirates  of  the  Spanish 
Main. 

If  the  musquitoes  were  as  numerous  and  as 
persecuting  in  those  days  as  they  are  at  present, 
the  most  adventurous  youth  would  have  soon  re 
pented  the  infatuation  which  led  him  to  join  the- 
brethren  of  the  Main.  The  musquito  is  a  great 
enemy  to  romance,  and  our  skipper  tells  us  that 
there  is  no  such  place  known  in  the  world  for 
them  as  this  coast. 

As  the  Dijpa  flew  along  the  grim  shore,  we 
lay  listlessly  on  the  deck  admiring  the  excessive 
brightness  of  the  stars,  or  watching  the  trailing 
fire  of  her  wake.-  Now  and  then  great  fish  flew 
off  from  the  shallows,  cleaving  their  path  in 
flame;  and  one  shining  gleam  came  up  from 
leeward  like  a  watery  comet,  till  its  horrible  out 
line  was  revealed  close  to  us — a  monster  shark 
— which  accompanied  us  with  an  easy  play  of 
the  fin,  distinctly  visible  in  the  wonderful  phos 
phorescence,  now  shooting  on  ahead,  now  drop 
ping  astern,  till  suddenly  it  dashed  off  seaward 
with  tremendous  rapidity  and  strength  on  some 
errand  of  destruction,  and  vanished  in  the  waste 
of  waters.  Despite  the  multitudes  of  fish  on  the 
coast,  the  Spaniards  who  colonize  this  ill-named 
Florida  must  have  had  a  trying  life  of  it  between 
the  Indians,  now  hunted  to  death  or  exiled  by 
rigorous  Uncle  Sam,  the  musquitoes,  and  the 
numberless  plagues  which  abound  along  these 
shores. 

Hour  after  hour  passed  watching  the  play  of 
large  fish  and  the  surf  on  the  beach  ;  one  by  one 
the  cigar-lights  died  out ;  and  muffling  ourselves 
up  on  deck,  or  creeping  into  the  little  cabin,  the 
party  slumbered.  I  was  awoke  by  the  Captain 
talking  to  one  of  his  hands  close  to  me,  and  on 
looking  up  saw  that  he  was  staring  through  a 
wonderful  black  tube,  which  he  denominated  his 
"tallowscope,"  at  the  shore. 

Looking  in  the  direction,  I  observed  the  glare 
of  a  fire  in  the  wood,  which  on  examination 
through  an  opera  glass  resolved  itself  into  a 
steady  central  light,  with  some  smaller  specks 
around  it.  "  Wa'll,"  said  the  Captain,  "  I  guess 

it  is  just  some  of  them  d d  Yankees  as  is 

landed  from  their  tarnation  boats,  and  is  'con- 
noitering'  for  a  road  to  Mobile."  There  was  an 
old  iron  cannonade  on  board,  and  it  struck  me 
as  a  curious  exemplification  of  the  recklessness 
of  our  American  cousins,  when  the  skipper  said, 
"Let  us  put  a  bag  of  bullets  in  the  ould  gun, 
and  touch  it  off  at  them ;"  which  he  no  doubt 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


79 


would  have  done,  seconded  by  one  of  our  party, 
who  drew  his  revolver  to  contribute  to  the  broad 
side,  but  that  I  represented  to  them  it  was  just 
as  likely  to  be  a  party  out  from  the  camp  at  Pen- 
sacola,  "and  that,  anyhow,  I  strongly  objected  to 
any  belligerent  act  whilst  I  was  on  board.  It 
was  very  probably,  indeed,  the  watchfire  of  a 
Confederate  patrol,  for  the  gentry  of  the  country 
have  formed  themselves  into  a  body  of  regular 
cavalry  for  such  service/ ;  but  the  skipper  de 
clared  that  our  chaps  knew  better  than  to  be 
showing  their  lights  in  that  way,  when  we  were 
within  ten  miles  of  the  entrance  to  Pensacola. 

The  skipper  lay-to,  as  he,  very  wisely,  did  not 
like  to  run  into  the  centre  of  the  United  States 
squadron  at  night ;  but  just  at  the  first  glimpse 
of  dawn  the  Diana  resumed  her  course,  and 
bowled  along  merrily  till,  with  the  first  rays  of 
the  sun,  Fort  M'Rae,  Fort  Pickens,  and  the 
masts  of  the  squadron  were  visible  ahead,  rising 
above  the  blended  horizon  of  land  and  sea.  We 
drew  upon  them  rapidly,  and  soon  could  make 
out  the  rival  flags — the  Stars  and  Bars  and  Stars 
and  Stripes — flouting  defiance  at  each  other. 

On  the  land  side  on  our  left  is  Fort  M'Rae, 
and  on  the  end  of  the  sand-bank,  called  Santa 
Rosa  Island,  directly  opposite,  rises  the  outline 
of  the  much-talked-of  Fort  Pickens,  which  is  not 
unlike  Fort  Paul  on  a  small  scale.  Through 
the  glass  the  blockading  squadron  is  seen  to  con 
sist  of  a  sailing  frigate,  a  sloop,  and  three  steam 
ers  ;  and  as  we  are  scrutinising  them,  a  small 
schooner  glides  from  under  the  shelter  of  the 
guardship,  and  makes  towards  us  like  a  hawk 
on  a  sparrow.  Hand  over  hand  she  comes,  a 
great  swaggering  ensign  at  her  peak,  and  a  gun 
all  ready  at  her  bow  ;  and  rounding  up  alongside 
us,  a  boat,  manned  by  four  men,  is  lowered,  an 
officer  jumps  in,  and  is  soon  under  our  counter. 
The  officer,  a  bluff,  sailor-like  looking  fellow,  in 
a  uniform  a  little  the  worse  for  wear,  and  wear 
ing  his  bcai'd  as  officers  of  the  United  States 
navy  generally  do,  fixed  his  eye  upon  the  skip 
per — who  did  not  seem  quite  at  his  ease,  and 
had,  indeed,  confessed  to  us  that  he  had  been 
warned  off  by  the  Oriental,  as  the  tender  was 
named,  only  a  short  time  before  —  and  said, 
"Hallo,  sir,  I  think  I  have  seen  you  before: 
what  schooner  is  this?"  "The  Diana  of  Mo 
bile."  "I  thought  so."  Stepping  on  deck,  he 
said,  "Gentlemen,  I  am  Mr.  Brown,  Master  in 
the  United  States  navy,  in  charge  of  the  boarding 
schooner  Oriental."  We  each  gave  our  names ; 
whereupon  Mr.  Brown  says,  "I  have  no  doubt 
it  will  be  all  right;  be  good  enough  to  let  me 
have  your  papers.  And  now,  sir,  make  sail,  and 
lie-to  under  the  quarter  of  that  steamer  there, 
the  Powhatan."  The  Captain  did  not  look  at 
all  happy  when  the  officer  called  his  attention  to 
the  indorsement  on  his  papers ;  nor  did  the  Mo 
bile  party  seem  very  comfortable  when  he  re 
marked,  "I  suppose,  gentlemen,  you  are  quite 
well  aware  there  is  a  strict  blockade  of  this 
port  ?" 

In  half  an  hour  the  schooner  lay  under  the 
guns  of  the  Powhatan,  which  is  a  stumpy,  thick 
set,  powerful  steamer  of-the  old  paddle-wheel 
kind,  something  like  our  Leopard.  We  pro 
ceeded  alongside  in  the  cutter's  boat,  and  were 
ushered  into  the  cabin,  where  the  officer  com 
manding,  Lieutenant  David  Porter,  received  us, 
begged  us  to  be  seated,  and  then  inquired  into 


the  object  of  our  visit,  which  he  communicated 
to  the  flag-ship  by  signal,  in  order  to  get  instruc 
tions  as  to  our  disposal.  Nothing  could  exceed 
his  courtesy;  and  I  was  most  favourably  im 
pressed  by  himself,  his  officers,  and  crew.  He 
took  me  over  the  ship,  which  is  armed  with  10- 
inch  Dahlgrens  and  an  11-inch  pivot  gun,  with 
rifled  field-pieces  and  howitzers  on  the  sponsons. 
Her  boarding  nettings  were  triced  up,  bows  and 
weak  portions  padded  with  dead  wood  and  old 
sails,  and  everything  ready  for  action. 

Lieutenant  Porter  has  been  in  and  out  of  the 
harbour  examining  the  enemy's  works  at  all 
hours  of  the  night,  and  he  has  marked  off  on  the 
chart,  as  he  showed  me,  the  bearings  of  the  vari 
ous  spots  where  he  can  sweep  or  enfilade  their 
works.  The  crew,  all  things  considered,  were 
very  clean,  and  their  personnel  exceedingly  fine. 

We  were  not  the  only  prize  that  was  made  by 
the  Oriental  this  morning.  A  ragged  little 
schooner  lay  at  the  other  side  of  the  Powhatan, 
the  master  of  which  stood  rubbing  his  knuckles 
into  his  eyes,  and  uttering  dolorous  expressions 
in  broken  English  and  Italian,  for  he  was  a  no 
ble  Roman  of  Civita  Vecchia.  Lieutenant  Por 
ter  let  me  into  the  secret.  These  small  traders 
at  Mobile,  pretending  great  zeal  for  the  Confed 
erate  cause,  load  their  vessels  with  fruit,  vegeta 
bles,  and  things  of  which  they  know  the  squadron 
is  much  in  want,  as  well  as  the  garrison  of  the 
Confederate  forts.  They  set  out  with  the  most 
valiant  intention  of  running  the  blockade,  and 
are  duly  captured  by  the  squadron,  the  officers 
of  which  are  only  too  glad  to  pay  fair  prices  for 
the  cargoes.  They  return  to  Mobile,  keep  their 
money  in  their  pockets,  and  declare  they  have 
been  plundered  by  the  Yankees.  If  they  get  in, 
they  demand  still  higher  prices  from  the  Confed 
erates,  and  lay  claim  to  the  most  exalted  patriot 
ism. 

By  signal  from  the  flag-ship  Sabine,  we  were 
ordered  to  repair  on  board  to  see  the  senior  offi 
cer,  Captain  Adams;  and  for  the  first  time  since 
I  trod  the  deck  of  the  old  Leander  in  Balaklava 
harbour,  I  stood  on  board  a  50-gun  sailing  frig 
ate.  Captain  Adams,  a  grey -haired  veteran 
of  very  gentle  manners  and  great  urbanity,  re 
ceived  us  in  his  cabin,  and  listened  to  my  expla 
nation  of  the  cause  of  my  visit  with  interest. 
About  myself  there  was  no  difficulty ;  but  he 
very  justly  observed  he  did  not  think  it  would  be 
right  to  let  the  gentlemen  from  Mobile  examine 
Fort  Pickens,  and  then  go  among  the  Confeder 
ate  camps.  I  am  bound  to  say  these  gentlemen 
scarcely  seemed  to  desire  or  anticipate  such  a 
favour. 

Major  Vogdes,  an  engineer  officer  from  the 
fort,  who  happened  to  be  on  board,  volunteered 
to  take  a  letter  from  me  to  Colonel  Harvey 
Browne,  requesting  permission  to  I isit  it ;  and  I 
finally  arranged  with  Captain  Adams  that  the 
Diana  was  to  be  permitted  to  pass  the  blockade 
into  Pensacola  harbour,  and  thence  to  return  to 
Mobile,  my  visit  to  Pickens  depending  on  the 
pleasure  of  the  Commandant  of  the  place.  "I 
fear,  Mr.  Russell,"  said  Captain  Adams,  "in 
giving  you  this  permission,  I  expose  myself  to 
misrepresentation  and  unfounded  attacks.  Gen 
tlemen  of  the  press  in  our  country  care  little 
about  private  character,  and  are,  I  fear,  rather 
unscrupulous  in  what  they  say ;  but  I  rely  upon 
your  character  that  no  improper  use  shall  be 


80 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


made  of  this  permission.  You  must  hoist  a  flag 
of  truce,  as  General  Bragg,  who  commands  over 
there,  has  sent  me  word  he  considers  our  block 
ade  a  declaration  of  war,  and  will  fire  upon  any 
vessel  which  approaches  him  from  our  fleet." 

In  the  course  of  conversation,  whilst  treating 
me  to  such  man-of-war  luxuries  as  the  friendly 
officer  had  at  his  disposal,  he  gave  me  an  illus 
tration  of  the  miseries  of  this  cruel  conflict — of 
the  unspeakable  desolation  of  homes,  of  the  bit 
terness  of  feeling  engendered  in  families.  A 
Pennsylvania!!  by  birth,  he  married  long  ago  a 
lady  of  Louisiana,  where  he  resided  on  his  plant 
ation  till  his  ship  was  commissioned.  He  was 
absent  on  foreign  service  when  the  feud  first  be 
gan,  and  received  orders  at  sea,  on  the  South 
American  station,  to  repair  direct  to  blockade 
Pensacola.  He  has  just  heard  that  one  of  his 
sons  is  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army,  and 
that  two  others  have  joined  the  forces  in  Vir 
ginia  ;  and  as  he  said  sadly,  "  God  knows,  when 
I  open  my  broadside,  but  that  I  may  be  killing 
my  own  children."  But  that  was  not  all.  One 
of  the  Mobile  gentlemen  brought  him  a  letter 
from  his  daughter,  in  which  she  informs  him 
that  she  has  been  elected  vivandiere  to  a  New 
Orleans  regiment,  with  which  she  intends  to  push 
on  to  Washington,  and  get  a  lock  of  old  Abe  Lin 
coln's  hair ;  and  the  letter  concluded  with  the 
charitable  wish  that  her  father  might  starve  to 
death  if  he  persisted  in  his  wicked  blockade. 
But  not  the  less  determined  was  the  gallant  old 
sailor  to  do  his  duty. 

Mr.  Ward,  one  of  my  companions,  had  sailed 
in  the  Sabine  in  the  Paraguay  expedition,  and 
I  availed  myself  of  his  acquaintance  with  his  old 
comrades  to  take  a  glance  round  the  ship. 
Wherever  they  came  from,  four  hundred  moi-e 
sailor-like,  strong,,  handy  young  fellows  could 
not  be  seen  than  the  crew  ;  and  the  officers  were 
as  hospitable  as  their  limited  resources  in  whis 
ky  grog,  cheese,  and  junk  allowed  them  to  be. 

With  thanks  for  his  kindness  and  courtesy,  I 
parted  from  Captain  Adams,  feeling  more  than 
ever  the  terrible  and  earnest  nature  of  the  im 
pending  conflict.  May  the  kindly  good  old  man 
be  shielded  on  the  day  of  battle  ! 

A  ten-oared  barge  conveyed  us  to  the  Orient 
al,  which,  with  flowing  sheet,  ran  down  to  the 
Powhatan.  There  I  saw  Captain  Porter,  and 
told  him  that  Captain  Adams  had  given  me  per 
mission  to  visit  the  Confederate  camp,  and  that 
I  had  written  for  leave  to  go  on  shore  at  Fort 
Pickens.  An  officer  was  in  his  cabin,  to  whom 
I  was  introduced  as  Captain  Poore,  of  the  Brook 
lyn.  "You  don't  mean  to  say,  Mr.  Russell,"  said 
he,  ' '  that  these  editors  of  Southern  newspapers 
who  are  with  you  have  leave  to  go  on  shore  ?" 
This  was  rather  a  fishing  question.  "I  assure 
you,  Captain fPoore,  that  there  is  no  editor  of  a 
Southern  newspaper  in  my  company." 

The  boat  which  took  us  from  the  Powhatan 
to  the  Diana  was  in  charge  of  a  young  officer 
related  to  Captain  Porter,  who  amused  me  by 
the  spirit  with  which  he  bandied  remarks  about 
the  Mobile  men,  who  had  now  recovered  their 
equanimity,  and  were  indulging  in  what  is  call 
ed  chaff  about  the  blockade.  "Well,"  he  said, 
"you  were  the  first  to  begin  it ;  let  us  see  wheth 
er  you  won't  be  the  first  to  leave  it  off.  I  guess 
our  Northern  ice  will  pretty  soon  put  out  your 
Southern  fire." 


When  we  came  on  board,  the  skipper  heard 
our  orders  to  up  stick  and  away  with  an  air  of 
pity  and  incredulity;  nor  was  it  till  I  had  re 
peated  it,  he  kicked  up  his  crew  from  their  sleep 
on  deck,  and  with  a  "  Wa'll,  really,  I  never  did 
see  sich  a  thing !"  made  sail  towards  the  entrance 
to  the  harbour. 

As  we  got  abreast  of  Fort  Pickens,  I  ordered 
table-cloth  No.  1  to  be  hoisted  to  the  peak  ;  and 
through  the  glass  I  saw  that  our  appearance  at 
tracted  no  ordinary  attention  from  the  garrison 
of  Pickens  close  at  hand  on  our  right,  and  the 
more  distant  Confederates  on  Fort  M'Rae  and 
the  sand-hills  on  our  left.  The  latter  work  is 
weak  and  badly  built,  quite  under  the  command 
of  Picken?,  but  it  is  supported  by  the  old  Span 
ish  fort  of  Barrancas  upon  high  ground  further 
inland,  and  by  numerous  batteries  at  the  water- 
line,  and  partly  concealed  amid  the  woods  which 
fringe  the  shore  as  far  as  the  navy  yard  of  War- 
rington,  near  Pensacola.  The  wind  was  light, 
but  the  tide  bore  us  on  towards  the  Confederate 
works.  Arms  glanced  in  the  blazing  sun  where 
regiments  were  engaged  at  drill,  clouds  of  dust 
rose  from  the  sandy  roads,  horsemen  riding  along 
the  beach,  groups  of  men  in  uniform,  gave  a  mar 
tial  appearance  to  the  place  in  unison  with  the 
black  muzzles  of  the  guns  which  peeped  from  the 
white  sand  batteries  from  the  entrance  of  the 
harbour  to  the  navy  yard  now  close  at  hand. 
As  at  Sumter  Major  Anderson  permitted  the 
Carolinians  to  erect  the  batteries  he  might  have 
so  readily  destroyed  in  the  commencement,  so 
the  Federal  officers  here  have  allowed  General 
Bragg  to  work  away  at  his  leisure,  mounting 
cannon  after  cannon,  throwing  up  earthworks, 
and  strengthening  his  batteries,  till  he  has  as 
sumed  so  formidable  an  attitude,  that  I  doubt 
very  much  whether  the  fort  and  the  fleet  com 
bined  can  silence  his  fire. 

On  the  low  shore  close  to  us  were  numerous 
wooden  houses  and  detached  villas,  surrounded 
by  orange-groves.  At  last  the  captain  let  go  his 
anchor  off  the  end  of  a  wooden  jetty,  which  was 
crowded  with  ammunition,  shot,  shell,  casks  of 
provisions,  and  commissariat  stores.  A  small 
steamer  was  engaged  in  adding  to  the  collection, 
and  numerous  light  craft  gave  evidence  that  all 
trade  had  not  ceased.  Indeed,  inside  Santa  Rosa 
Island,  which  runs  for  forty-five  miles  from  Pick- 
ens  eastward  parallel  to  the  shore,  there  is  a  con 
siderable  coasting  traffic  carried  on  for  the  bene 
fit  of  the  Confederates. 

The  skipper  went  ashore  with  my  letters  to 
General  Bragg,  and  speedily  returned  with  an 
orderly,  who  brought  permission  for  the  Diana 
to  come  alongside  the  wharf.  The  Mobile  gen 
tlemen  were  soon  on  shore,  eager  to  seek  their 
friends ;  and  in  a  few  seconds  the  officer  of  the 
quartermaster  -  general's  department  on  duty 
came  on  board  to  conduct  me  to  the  officers' 
quarters,  whilst  waiting  for  my  reply  from  Gen 
eral  Bragg. 

The  navy  yard  is  surrounded  by  a  high  wall, 
the  gates  closely  guarded  by  sentries ;  the  houses, 
gardens,  Avorkshops,  factories,  forges,  slips,  and 
building-sheds  are  complete  of  their  kind,  and 
cover  upwards  of  three  hundred  acres ;  and  with 
the  forts  which  protect  the  entrance,  cost  the 
United  States  Government  not  less  than  six  mil 
lions  sterling.  Inside  these  was  the  greatest  ac 
tivity  and  life, — Zouave,  Chasseurs,  and  all  kind 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


of  military  eccentricities — were  drilling,  parad 
ing,  exercising,  sitting  in  the  shade,  loading  tum 
brils,  playing  cards,  or  sleeping  on  the  grass. 
Tents  were  pitched  under  the  trees  and  on  the 
little  lawns  and  grass-covered  quadrangles.  The 
houses,  each  numbered  and  marked  with  the 
name  of  the  functionary  to  whose  use  it  was  as 
signed,  were  models  of  neatness,  with  gardens  in 
front,  filled  with  glorious  tropical  flowers.  They 
were  painted  green  and  white,  provided  with  por 
ticoes,  Venetian  blinds,  verandahs,  and  colon 
nades,  to  protect  the  inmates  as  much  as  possible 
from  the  blazing  sun,  which  in  the  dog-days  is 
worthy  of  Calcutta.  The  old  Fulton  is  the  only 
ship  on  the  stocks.  From  the  naval  arsenal 
quantities  of  shot  and  shell  are  constantly  pour 
ing  to  the  batteries.  Piles  of  cannon-balls  d'ot 
the  grounds,  but  the  only  ordnance  I  saw  were 
two  old  mortars  placed  as  ornaments  in  the  main 
avenue,  one  dated  1776. 

The  quartermaster  conducted  me  through  sha 
dy  walks  into  one  of  the  houses,  then  into  a  long 
room,  and  presented  me  en  masse  to  a  body  of 
officers,  mostly  belonging  to  a  Zouave  regiment 
from  New"  Orleans,  who  were  seated  at  a  very 
comfortable  dinner,  with  abundance  of  cham 
pagne,  claret,  beer,  and  ice.  They  were  all 
young,  full  of  life  and  spirits,  except  three  or 
four  graver  and  older  men,  who  were  Europe 
ans.  One,  a  Dane,  had  fought  against  the  Prus 
sians  and  Schleswig-Holsteiners  at  Idstedt  and 
Friederichstadt ;  another,  an  Italian,  seemed  to 
have  been  indifferently  engaged  in  fighting  all 
over  the  South  American  continent ;  a  third,  a 
Pole,  had  been  at  Comorn,  and  had  participated 
in  the  revolutionary  guerilla  of  1848.  From 
these  officers  I  learned  that  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis, 
his  wife,  Mr.  Wigfall,  and  Mr.  Mallory,  Secretary 
to  the  Navy,  had  come  down  from  Montgomery, 
and  had  been  visiting  the  works  all  day. 

Every  one  here  believes  the  attack  so  long 
threatened  is  to  come  off  at  last  and  at  once. 

After  dinner  an  aide-de-camp  from  General 
Bragg  entered  with  a  request  that  I  would  ac 
company  him  to  the  commanding  officer's  quar 
ters.  As  the  sand  outside  the  navy  yard  was 
deep,  and  rendered  walking  very  disagreeable, 
the  young  officer  stopped  a  cart,  into  which  we 
got,  and  were  proceeding  on  our  way,  when  a 
tall,  elderly  man,  in  a  blue  frock-coat  with  a  gold 
star  on  the  shoulder,  trowsers  with  a  gold  stripe 
and  gilt  buttons,  rode  past,  followed  by  an  or 
derly,  who  looked  more  like  a  dragoon  than  any 
thing  I  have  yet  seen  in  the  States.  "There's 
General  Bragg,"  quoth  the  aide,  and  I  was  duly 
presented  to  the  General,  who  reined  up  by  the 
waggon.  He  sent  his  orderly  off  at  once  for  a 
light  cart  drawn  by  a  pair  of  mules,  in  which  I 
completed  my  journey,  and  was  safely  decarted 
at  the  door  of  a  substantial  house  surrounded  by 
trees  of  lime,  oak,  and  sycamore. 

Led  horses  and  orderlies  thronged  the  front  of 
the  portico,  and  gave  it  the  usual  head-quarter- 
like  aspect.  General  Bragg  received  me  at  the 
steps,  and  took  me  to  his  private  room,  where  we 
remained  for  a  long  time  in  conversation.  He 
had  retired  from  the  United  States  army  after 
the  Mexican  war — in  which,  by  the  way,  he  play 
ed  a  distinguished  part,  his  name  being  general 
ly  coupled  with  the  phrase  "  a  little  more  grape, 
Captain  Bragg,"  used  in  one  of  the  hottest  en 
counters  of  that  campaign — to  his  plantation  in 
F 


Louisiana ;  but  suddenly  the  Northern  States  de 
clared  their  intention  of  using  force  to  free  and 
sovereign  states,  which  were  exercising  their  con 
stitutional  rights  to  secede  from  the  Federal 
Union. 

Neither  he  nor  his  family  were  responsible  for 
the  system  of  slavery.  His  ancestors  found  it 
established  by  law  and  flourishing,  and  had  left 
him  property,  consisting  of  slaves,  which  was 
granted  to  him  by  the  laws  and  constitution  of 
the -United  States.  Slaves  were  necessary  for 
the  actual  cultivation  of  the  soil  in  the  South ; 
Europeans  and  Yankees  who  settled  there  speed 
ily  became  convinced  of  that ;  and  if  a  Northern 
population  were  settled  in  Louisiana  to-morrow, 
they  would  discover  that  they  must  till  the  land 
by  the  labour  of  the  black  race,  and  that  the 
only  mode  of  making  the  black  race  work  was 
to  hold  them  in  a  condition  of  involuntary  serv 
itude.  "Only  the  other  day,  Colonel  Harvey 
Browne,  at  Pickens,  over  the  way,  carried  off  a 
number  of  negroes  from  Tortugas,  and  put  them 
to  work  at  Santa  Rosa.  Why?  Because  his 
white  soldiers  were  not  able  for  it.  No.  The 
North  was  bent  on  subjugating  the  South,  and 
as  long  as  he  had  a  drop  of  blood  in  his  body,  he 
would  resist  such  an  infamous  attempt." 

Before  supper  General  Bragg  opened  his  maps, 
and  pointed  out  to  me  in  detail  the  position  of 
all  his  works,  the  line  of  fire  of  each  gun,  and 
the  particular  object  to  be  expected  from  its  ef 
fects.  "  I  know  every  inch  of  Pickens,"  he  said, 
"  for  I  happened  to  be  stationed  there  as  soon  as 
I  left  West  Point,  and  I  don't  think  there  is  a 
stone  in  it  that  I  am  not  as  well  acquainted  with 
as  Harvey  Browne." 

His  staff,  consisting  of  four  intelligent  young 
men,  two  of  them  lately  belonging  to  .the  United 
States  army,  supped  with  us,  and  after  a  very 
agreeable  evening,  horses  were  ordered  round  to 
the  door,  and  I  returned  to  the  navy  yard  at 
tended  by  the  General's  orderly,  and  provided 
with  a  pass  and  countersign.  As  a  mark  of 
complete  confidence,  General  Bragg  told  me,  for 
my  private  ear,  that  he  had  no  present  intention 
whatever  of  opening  fire,  and  that  his  batteries 
were  far  from  being  in  a  state,  either  as  regards 
armament  or  ammunition,  which  would  justify 
him  in  meeting  the  fire  of  the  forts  and  the  ships. 

And  so  we  bade  good-by.  "To-morrow," 
said  the  General,  "I  will  send  down  one  of  my 
best  horses  and  Mr.  Ellis,  my  aide-de-camp,  to 
take  you  over  all  the  works  and  batteries."  As 
I  rode  home  with  my  honest  orderly  beside  in 
stead  of  behind  me,  for  he  was  of  a  conversa 
tional  turn,  I  was  much  perplexed  in  my  mind, 
endeavouring  to  determine  which  was  right  and 
which  was  wrong  in  this  quarrel,  and  at  last,  as 
at  Montgomery,  I  was  forced  to  ask  myself  if 
right  and  wrong  were  geographical  expressions 
depending  for  extension  or  limitation  on  certain 
conditions  of  climate  and  lines  of  latitude  and 
longitude.  Here  was  the  General's  orderly  be 
side  me,  an  intelligent  middle-aged  man,  who 
had  come  to  do  battle  with  as  much  sincerity — 
aye,  and  religious  confidence — as  ever  actuated 
old  John  Brown  or  any  New  England  puritan  to 
make  war  against  slavery.  "I  have  left  my  old 
woman  and  the  children  to  the  care  of  the  nig 
gers  ;  I  have  turned  up  all  my  cotton  land  and 
planted  it  with  corn,  and  I  don't  intend  to  go 
back  alive  till  I've  seen  the  back  of  the  last  Yan- 


82 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


kee  in  our  Southern  States."  "And  are  wife 
and  children  alone  with  the  negroes?"  "Yes, 
sir.  There's  only  one  white  man  on  the  plan 
tation,  an  overseer  sort  of  chap."  "Are  not  you 
afraid  of  the  slaves  rising?"  "They're  ignorant 
poor  creatures,  to  be  sure,  but  as  yet  they're 
faithful.  Any  way,  I  put  my  trust  in  God,  and 
I  know  He'll  watch  over  the  house  while  I'm 
away  fighting  for  this  good  cause !"  This  man 
came  from  Mississippi,  and  had  twenty -five 
slaves,  which  represented  a  money  value  of  at 
least  £5000.  He  was  beyond  the  age  of  enthu 
siasm,  and  was  actuated,  no  doubt,  by  strong 
principles,  to  him  unquestionable  and  sacred. 

My  pass  and  countersign,  which  were  only 
once'  demanded,  took  me  through  the  sentries, 
and  I  got  on  board  the  schooner  shortly  before 
midnight,  and  found  nearly  all  the  party  on  deck, 
enchanted  with  their  reception.  More  than  once 
we  were  awoke  by  the  vigilant  sentries,  who 
would  not  let  what  Americans  call  "the  bal 
ance"  of  our  friends  on  board  till  they  had  seen 
my  authority  to  receive  them. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Bitters  before  breakfast — An  old  Crimean  acquaintance — 
Earthworks  and  batteries— Estimate  of  cannons— Mag 
azines — Hospitality — English  and  American  introduc 
tions  and  leave-takings— Kort  Pickens;  its  interior- 
Return  towards  Mobile — Pursued  by  a  strange  sail — 
Running  the  blockade — Landing  at  Mobile. 

May  16M. — The  re'veille  of  the  Zouaves,  note 
for  note  the  same  as  that  which,  in  the  Crimea, 
so  often  woke  up  poor  fellows  who  slept  the  long 
sleep  ere  nightfall,  roused  us  this  morning  early, 
and  then  the  clang  of  trumpets  and  the  roll  of 
drums  beating  French  calls  summoned  the  vol 
unteers  to  early  parade.  As  there  was  a  heavy 
dew,  and  many  winged  things  about  last  night, 
I  turned  in  to  my  berth  below,  where  four  hu 
man  beings  were  supposed  to  lie  in  layers,  like 
mummies  beneath  a  pyramid,  and  there,  after 
contention  with  cockroaches,  sank  to  rest.  No 
wonder  I  was  rather  puzzled  to  know  where  I 
was  now ;  for  in  addition  to  the  music  and  the 
familiar  sounds  outside,  I  was  somewhat  perturb 
ed  in  my  mental  calculations  by  bringing  my 
head  sharply  in  contact  with  a  beam  of  the  deck, 
which  had  the  best  of  it ;  but,  at  last,  facts  ac 
complished  themselves  and  got  into  place,  much 
aided  by  the  appearance  of  the  negro  cook  with 
a  cup  of  coffee  in  his  hand,  who  asked, "  Mosieu ! 
Capitaine  vant  to  ax  vedder  you  take  some  bit 
ter,  sar!  Lisbon  bitter,  sar."  I  saw  the  cap 
tain  on  deck  busily  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  a  liquid  which  I  was  adjured  by  all  the  party 
on  deck  to  take,  if  I  wished  to  make  a  Redan  or 
a  Malakhoff  of  my  stomach,  and  accordingly  I 
swallowed  a.  petit  verre  of  a  very  strong,  intense 
ly  bitter  preparation  of  brandy  and  tonic  roots, 
sweetened  with  sugar,  for  which  Mobile  is  famous. 

The  noise  of  our  arrival  had  gone  abroad ; 
haply  the  report  of  the  good  things  with  which 
the  men  of  Mobile  had  laden  the  craft,  for  a  few 
officers  came  aboard  even  at  that  early  hour,  and 
we  asked  two  who  wore  known  to  our  friends  to 
stay  for  breakfast.  That  meal,  to  which  the  ne 
gro  cook  applied  his  whole  mind  and  all  the  gal 
ley,  consisted  of  an  ugly-looking  but  well-flavor 
ed  fish  from  the  waters  outside  us,  fried  ham  and 
onions,  biscuit,  coffee,  iced  water  and  Bordeaux, 


served  with  charming  simplicity,  and  no  way 
calculated  to  move  the  ire  of  Horace  by  a  dis- 
)lay  of  Persic  apparatus. 

A  more  greasy,  oniony  meal  was  never  better 
enjoyed.  One  of  our  guests  was  a  jolly  York- 
ihire  farmer-looking  man,  up  to  about  1C  stone 
weight,  with  any  hounds,  dressed  in  a  tunic  of 
green  baize  or  frieze,  with  scarlet  worsted  braid 
down  the  front,  gold  lace  on  the  cuffs  and  collar, 
and  a  felt  wide-awake,  with  a  bunch  of  feathers 
n  it.  He  wiped  the  sweat  off  his  brow,  and 
swore  that  he  would  never  give  in,  and  that  the 
whole  of  the  company  of  riflemen  whom  he  com 
manded,  if  not  as  heavy,  were  quite  as  patriotic. 
He  was  evidently  a  kindly  affectionate  man, 
without  a  trace  of  malice  in  his  composition,  but 
his  sentiments  were  quite  ferocious  when  he  came 
to  speak  of  the  Yankees.  He  was  a  large  slave 
owner,  and  therefore  a  man  of  fortune,  and  he 
spoke  with  all  the  fervour  of  a  capitalist  men 
aced  by  a  set  of  Red  Republicans. 

His  companion,  who  wore  a  plain  blue  uni 
form,  spoke  sensibly  about  a  matter  with  which, 
sense  has  rarely  anything  to  do  —  namely  uni 
form.  Many  of  the  United  States  volunteers 
adopt  the  same  grey  colours  so  much  in  vogue 
among  the  Confederates.  The  officers  of  both 
armies  were  similar  distinguishing  marks  of  rank, 
and  he  was  quite  right  in  supposing  that  in  night 
marches,  or  in  serious  actions  on  a  large  scale, 
much  confusion  and  loss  would  be  caused  by  men 
of  the  same  army  firing  on  each  other,  or  mis 
taking  enemies  for  friends. 

Whilst  we  were  talking,  large  shoals  of  mullet 
and  other  fish  were  flying  before  the  porpoises, 
red  fish,  and  other  enemies,  in  the  tide-way 
astern  of  the  schooner.  Once,  as  a  large  white 
fish  came  leaping  up  to  the  surface,  a  gleam  of 
something  still  whiter  shot  through  the  waves, 
and  a  boiling  whirl,  tinged  with  crimson,  which 
gradually  melted  off  in  the  tide,  marked  where 
the  fish  had  been. 

"  There's  a  ground  sheark  as  has  got  his  break 
fast,"  quoth  the  Skipper.  "There's  quite  a  many 
of  them  about  here."  Now  and  then  a  turtle 
showed  his  head,  exciting  desideriuvi  tarn  cari 
capitis,  above  the  envied  flood  which  he  honour 
ed  with  his  presence. 

Far  away,  towards  Pensacola,  floated  three 
British  ensigns,  from  as  many  merchantmen, 
which  as  yet  had  fifteen  days  to  clear  out  from 
the  blockaded  port.  Fort  Pickens  had  hoisted 
the  stars  and  stripes  to  the  wind,  and  Fort  M'Rae, 
as  if  to  irritate  its  neighbour,  displayed  a  flag  al 
most  identical,  but  for  the  "lone  star,"  which 
the  glass  detected  instead  of  the  ordinary  galaxy 
— the  star  of  Florida. 

Lieutenant  Ellis,  General  Bragg's  aide-de 
camp,  came  on  board  at  an  eai'ly  hour,  in  order 
to  take  me  round  the  works,  and  I  was  soon  on 
the  back  of  the  General's  charger,  safely  en 
sconced  between  the  raised  pummel  and  cantle 
of  a  great  brass-bound  saddle,  with  emblazoned 
saddle-cloth  and  mighty  stirrups  of  brass,  fit  for 
the  fattest  marshal  that  ever  led  an  army  of 
France  to  victory ;  but  General  Bragg  is  longer 
in  the  leg  than  the  Duke  of  Malakhoff  or  Marshal 
Canrobert,  and  all  my  efforts  to  touch  with  my 
toe  the  wonderful  supports  which,  in  consonance 
with  the  American  idea,  dangled  far  beneath, 
were  ineffectual. 

As  our  road  lay  by  head-quarters,  the  aide- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


83 


de-camp  took  me  into  the  court  and  called  out 
"Orderly;"  and  at  the  summons  a  smart  sol 
dier-like  "young  fellow  came  to  the  front,  took  me 
three  holes  up,  and  as  I  was  riding  away  touch 
ed  his  cap  and  said,  "I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but 
I  often  saw  you  in  the  Crimea."  He  had  been 
in  the  llth  Hussars,  and  on  the  day  of  Bala- 
klava  he  was  following  close  to  Lord  Cardigan 
and  Captain  Nolan,  when  his  horse  was  killed 
by  a  round  shot.  As  he  was  endeavouring  to  es 
cape  on  foot  the  Cossacks  took  him  prisoner,  and 
he  remained  for  eleven  months  in  captivity  in 
Russia,  till  he  was  exchanged  at  Odessa,  towards 
the  close  of  the  war ;  then,  being  one  of  two  ser 
geants  who  were  permitted  to  get  their  discharge, 
he  left  the  service.  "But  here  you  are  again," 
said  I,  "soldiering  once  more,  and  merely  act 
ing  as  an  orderly !"  "  Well,  that's  true  enough  : 
but  I  came  over  here,  thinking  to  better  myself 
as  some  of  our  fellows  did,  and  then  the  war 
broke  out,  and  I  entered  one  of  what  they  called 
their  cavalry  regiments — Lord  bless  you,  sir,  it 
would  just  break  your,  heart  to  see  them  —  and- 
here  I  am  now,  and  the  general  has  made  me  an 
orderly.  He  is  a  kind  man,  sir,  and  the  pay  is 
good,  but  they  are  not  like  the  old  lot ;  I  do  not 
know  what  my  lord  would  think  of  them."  The 
man's  name  was  Montague,  and  he  told  me  his 
father  lived  "at  a  place  called  Windsor,"  twen 
ty-one  miles  from  London.  Lieutenant  Ellis 
said  he  was  a  very  clean,  smart,  well-conducted 
soldier. 

From  head-quarters  we  started  on  our  little 
tour  of  inspection  of  the  batteries.  Certainly, 
anything  more  calculated  to  shake  confidence 
in  American  journalism  could  not  be  seen;  for 
I  had  been  led  to  believe  that  the  works  were 
of  the  most  formidable  description,  mounting 
hundreds  of  guns.  Where  hundreds  was  writ 
ten,  tens  would  have  been  nearer  the  truth. 

I  visited  ten  out  of  the  thirteen  batteries  which 
General  Bragg  has  erected  against  Fort  Pick- 
ens.  I  saw  but  five  heavy  siege  guns  in  the 
whole  of  the  works  among  the  fifty  or  fifty-five 
pieces  with  which  they  were  armed.  There 
may  be  about  eighty  altogether  on  the  lines, 
which  describe  an  arc  of  135  degrees  for  about 
three  miles  round  Pickens,  at  an  average  dis 
tance  of  a  mile  and  one-third.  I  was  rather  in 
terested  with  Fort  Barrancas,  built  by  the  Span 
iards  long  ago — an  old  work  on  the  old  plan, 
weakly  armed,  but  possessing  a  tolerable  com 
mand  from  the  face  of  fire. 

In  all  the  batteries  there  were  covered  galler 
ies  in  the  rear,  connected  with  the  magazines, 
and  called  "rat-holes,"  intended  by  the  con 
structors  as  a  refuge  for  the  men  whenever  a 
shell  from  Piekens  dropped  in.  The  rush  to 
the  rat-hole  does  not  impress  one  as  being  very 
conducive  to  a  sustained  and  heavy  fire,  or  at 
all  likely  to  improve  the  morale  of  the  gunners. 
The  working  parties,  as  they  were  called — vol 
unteers  from  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  great 
long-bearded  fellows  in  flannel  shirts  and  slouch 
ed  hats,  uniformless  in  all  save  brightly  burnish 
ed  arms  and  resolute  purpose — were  lying  about 
among  the  works,  or  contributing  languidly  to 
their  completion. 

Considerable  improvements  were  in  the  course 
of  execution ;  but  the  officers  were  not  always 
agreed  as  to  the  work  to  be  done.  Captain  A., 
at  the  wheelbarrows:  "Now  then,  you  men, 


wheel  up  these  sandbags,  and  range  them  just 
at  this  corner."  Major  B. :  "  My  good  Captain 
A. ,  what  do  you  want  the  bags  there  for  ?  Did 
I  not  tell  you,  these  merlons  were  not  to  be  fin 
ished  till  we  had  completed  the  parapet  on  the 
front?"  Captain  A.:  "Well,  Major,  so  you 
did,  and  your  order  made  me  think  you  knew 
darned  little  about  your  business ;  and  so  I  am 
going  to  do  a  little  engineering  of  my  own." 

Altogether,  I  was  quite  satisfied  General 
Bragg  was  perfectly  correct  in  refusing  to  open 
his  fire  on  Fort  Pickens  and  on  the  fleet,  which 
ought  certainly  to  have  knocked  his  works  about 
his  ears,  in  spite  of  his  advantages  of  position, 
and  of  some  well-placed  mortar  batteries  among 
the  brushwood,  at  distances  from  Pickens  of 
2500  and  2800  yards.  The  magazines  of  the 
batteries  I  visited  did  not  contain  ammunition 
for  more  than  one  day's  ordinary  firing.  The 
shot  were  badly  cast,  with  projecting  flanges 
from  the  mould,  which  would  be  very  injurious 
to  soft  metal  guns  in  firing.  As  to  men,  as  in 
guns,  the  Southern  papers  had  lied  consumedly. 
I  could  not  say  how  many  were  in  Pensacola  it 
self,  for  I  did  not  visit  the  camp :  at  the  outside 
guess  of  the  numbers  there  was  2000.  I  saw, 
however,  all  the  camps  here,  and  I  doubt  ex 
ceedingly  if  General  Bragg — who  at  this  time 
is  represented  to  have  any  number  from  30,000 
to  50,000  men  under  his  command— has  8000 
troops  to  support  his  batteries,  or  10,000,  in 
cluding  Pensacola,  all  told. 

If  hospitality  consists  in  the  most  liberal  par 
ticipation  of  all  the  owner  has  with  his  visitors, 
here,  indeed,  Philemon  has  his  type  in  every 
tent.  As  we  rode  along  through  every  battery, 
by  every  officer's  quarters,  some  great  Mississip- 
pian  or  Alabamian  came  forward  with  "  Captain 
Ellis,  I  am  glad  to  see  you."  "Colonel, "to 
me,  "won't  you  get  down  and  have  a  drink?" 
Mr.  Ellis  duly  introduces  me.  The  Colonel 
with  effusion  grasps  my  hand  and  says,  as,  if  he 
had  just  gained  the  particular  object  of  his  ex 
istence,  "Sir,  I  am  very  glad  to  know  you.  I 
hope  you  have  been  pretty, well  since  you  have 
been  in  our  country,  sir.  Here,  Pompey,  take 
the  colonel's  horse.  Step  in,  sir,  and  have  a 
drink."  Then  comes  out  the  great  big  whisky 
bottle,  and  an  immense  amount  of  adhesion  to 
the  first  law  of  nature  is  required  to  get  you 
off  with  less  than  half  a  pint  of  "Bourbon;" 
but  the  most  trying  thing  to  a  stranger  is  the 
fact  that  when  he  is  going  away,  the  officer, 
who  has  been  so  delighted  to  see  him,  does  not 
seem  to  care  a  farthing  for  his  'guest  or  his 
health. 

The  truth  is,  these  introductions  are  ceremo 
nial  observances,  and  compliances  with  the  uni 
versal  curiosity  of  Americans  to  know  people 
they  meet.  The  Englishman  bows  frigidly  to 
his  acquaintance  on  the  first  introduction,  and 
if  he  likes  him  shakes  hands  with  him  on  leav 
ing — a  much  more  sensible  and  justifiable  pro 
ceeding.  The  American's  warmth  at  the  first 
interview  must  be  artificial,  and  the  indifference 
at  parting  is  ill-bred  and  in  bad  taste.  I  had 
already  observed  this  on  many  occasions,  espe 
cially  at  Montgomery,  where  I  noticed  it  to  Col 
onel  Wigfall,  but  the  custom  is  not  incompatible 
with  the  most  profuse  hospitality,  nor  with  the 
desire  to  render  service. 

On  my  return  to  head-quarters  I  found  Gen- 


MY  DIAEY  NOKTH  AND  SOUTH. 


eral  Bragg  in  his  room,  engaged  writing  an  of 
ficial  letter  in  reply  to  my  request  to  be  permit 
ted  to  visit  Fort  Pickens,  in  which  he  gave  me 
full  permission  to  do  as  I  pleased.  Not  only 
this,  but  he  had  prepared  a  number  of  letters 
of  introduction  to  the  military  authorities,  and 
to  his  personal  friends  at  New  Orleans,  request 
ing  them  to  give  me  every  facility  and  friendly 
assistance  in  their  power.  He  asked  me  my 
opinion  about  the  batteries  and  their  arma 
ment,  which  I  freely  gave  him  quantum  vakat. 
"Well,"  he  said,  "I  think  your  conclusions 
are  pretty  just ;  but,  nevertheless,  some  fine  day 
I  shall  be  forced  to  try  the  mettle  of  our  friends 
on  the  opposite  side."  All  I  could  say  was, 
"May  God  defend  the  right."  "A  good  say 
ing,  to  which  I  say,  Amen.  And  drink  with 
you  to  it." 

There  was  a  room  outside,  full  of  generals  and 
colonels,  to  whom  I  Avas  duly  introduced ;  but 
the  time  for  departure  had  come,  and  I  bade 
good-by  to  the  general  and  rode  down  to  the 
wharf.  I  had  always  heard,  during'  my  brief 
sojourn  in  the  North,  that  the  Southern  people 
were  exceedingly  illiterate  and  ignorant.  It 
may  be  so,  but  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I  ob 
served  a  large  proportion  of  the  soldiers,  on  their 
way  to  the  navy  yard,  engaged  in  reading  news 
papers,  though  they  did  not  neglect  the  various 
drinking  bars  and  exchanges,  which  were  only 
too  numerous  in  the  vicinity  of  the  camps. 

The  schooner  was  all  ready  for  sea,  but  the 
Mobile  gentlemen  had  gone  off  to  Pensacola, 
and  as  I  did  not  desire  to  invite  them  to  visit 
Fort  Pickens — where,  indeed,  they  would  have 
most  likely  met  with  a  refusal — I  resolved  to 
sail  without  them  and  to  return  to  the  navy  yard 
in  the  evening,  in  order  to  take  them  back  on 
our  homeward  voyage.  "Now  then,  captain, 
cast  loose ;  we  are  going  to  Fort  Pickens." 
The  worthy  seaman  had  by  this  time  become  ut 
terly  at  sea,  and  did  not  appear  to  know  wheth 
er  he  belonged  to  the  Confederate  States,  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  or  the  British  navy.  But  this  or 
der  roused  him  a  little,  and  looking  at  me  with 
all  his  eyes,  he  exclaimed,  "Why,  you  don't 
mean  to  say  you  are  going  to  make  me  bring  the 
Diana  alongside  that  darned  Yankee  Fort!" 
Our  tablecloth,  somewhat  maculated  with  gravy, 
was  hoisted  once  more  to  the  peak,  and,  after 
some  formalities  between  the  guardians  of  the 
jetty  and  ourselves,  the  schooner  canted  round 
in  the  tideway,  and  with  a  fine  light  breeze  ran 
down  towards  the  stars  and  stripes. 

"What  magical  power  there  is  in  the  colours 
of  a  piece  of  bunting  !  My  companions,  I  dare 
say,  felt  as  proud  of  their  flag  as  if  their  ances 
tors  had  fought  under  it  at  Acre  or  Jerusalem. 
And  yet  how  fictitious  its  influence !  Death, 
and  dishonor  worse  than  death,  to  desert  it  one 
day!  Patriotism  and  glory  to  leave  it  in  the 
dust,  and  fight  under  its  rival,  the  next !  How 
indignant  would  George  Washington  have  been, 
if  the  Frenchman  at  Fort  Du  Quesne  had  asked 
him  to  abandon  the  old  rag  which  Braddock 
held  aloft  in  the  wilderness,  and  to  serve  under 
the  \z\yfleur-de-lys  which  the  same  great  George 
hailed  with  so  much  joy  but  a  few  years  after 
wards,  when  it  was  advanced  to  the  front  at 
York  Town,  to  win  one  of  its  few  victoi'ies  over 
the  Lions  and  the  Harp.  And  in  this  Confed 
erate  flag  there  is  a  meaning  which  cannot  die 


— it  marks  the  birthplace  of  a  new  nationality, 
and  its  place  must  know  it  for  ever.  Even  the 
nag  of  a  rebellion  leaves  indelible  colours  in  the 
political  atmosphere.  The  hopes  that  sustained 
it  may  vanish  in  the  gloom  of  night,  but  the  na 
tional  faith  still  believes  that  its  sun  will  rise  on 
some  glorious  morrow.  Hard  must  it  be  for  this 
race,  so  arrogant,  so  great,  to  see  stripe  and  star 
torn  from  the  fair  standard  with  which  they 
would  fain  have  shadowed  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world;  but  their  great  continent  is  large 
enough  for  many  nations. 

"And  now,"  said  the  skipper,  "I  think  we'd 
best  lie  to — them  cussed  Yankees  on  the  beach 
is  shouting  to  us."  And  so  they  were.  A  sen 
try  on  the  end  of  a  wooden  jetty  sung  out, 
"  Hallo  you  there'!  Stand  off  or  I'll  fire,"  and 
"drew  a  bead-line  on  us."  At  the  same  time 
the  skipper  hailed,  "Please  to  send  a  boat  off  to 
go  ashore."  "No,  sir !  Come  in  your  own  boat !" 
cried  the  officer  of  the  guard.  Our  own  boat ! 
A  very  skiff  of  Charon !  Leaky,  rotten,  lop 
sided.  We  were  a  hundred  yards  from  the 
beach,  and  it  was  to  be  hoped  that  with  all  its 
burthen,  it  could  not  go  down  in  such  a  short 
row.  As  I  stepped  in,  however,  followed  by  my 
two  companions,  the  water  flew  in  as  if  forced  by 
a  pump,  and  when  the  sailors  came  after  us  the 
skipper  said,  through  a  mouthful  of  juice,  "Dee- 
vid !  pull  your  hardest,  for  there  an't  a  more 
terrible  place  for  shearks  along  the  whole  coast." 
Deevid  and  his  friend  pulled  like  men,  and  our 
hopes  rose  with  the  water  in  the  boat  and  the 
decreasing  distance  to  shore.  They  worked  like 
Doggett's  badgers,  and  in  five  minutes  we  were 
out  of  "sheark"  depth  and  alongside  the  jetty, 
where  Major  Vogdes,  Mr.  Brown,  of  the  Orient^ 
al,  and  an  officer,  introduced  as  Captain  Barry 
of  the  United  States  artillery,  were  waiting  to 
receive  us.  Major  Vogdes  said  that  Colonel 
Brown  would  most  gladly  permit  me  to  go  over 
the  fort,  but  that  he  could  not  receive  any  of  the 
other  gentlemen  of  the  party  ;  they  were  permit 
ted  to  wander  about  at  their  discretion.  Some 
friends  whom  they  picked  up  amongst  the  offi 
cers  took  them  on  a  ride  along  the  island,  which 
is  merely  a  sand-bank  covered  with  coarse  veg- 
elation,  a  few  trees,  and  pools  of  brackish  water. 

If  I  were  selecting  a  summer  habitation  I 
should  certainly  not  choose  Fort  Pickens.  It  is, 
like  all  other  American  works  I  have  seen, 
strong  on  the  sea  faces  and  weak  towards  the 
land.  The  outer  gate  was  closed,  but  at  a  talis- 
manic  knock  from  Captain  Barry,  the  wicket 
was  thrown  open  by  the  guard,  and  we  passed 
through  a  vaulted  gallery  into  the  parade-ground, 
which  was  full  of  men  engaged  in  strengthening 
the  place,  and  digging  deep  pits  in  the  centre  as 
shell  traps.  The  men  were  United  States  regu 
lars,  not  comparable  in  physique  to  the  Southern 
volunteers,  but  infinitely  superior  in  cleanliness 
and  soldierly  smartness.  The  officer  on  duty 
led  me  to  one  of  the  angles  of  the  fort  and  turn 
ed  in  to  a  covered  way,  which  had  been  ingen 
iously  contrived  by  tilting  up  the  gun  platforms 
and  beams  of  wood  at  an  angle  against  the  wall, 
and  piling  earth  and  sand  banks  against  them 
for  several  feet  in  thickness.  The  casemates, 
which  otherwise  would  have  been  exposed  to  a 
plunging  fire  in  the  rear,  were  thus  effectually 
protected. 

Emerging  from  this  dark  passage  I  entered 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


85 


one  of  the  bomb-proofs,  fitted  up  as  a  bed-room, 
and  thence  proceeded  to  the  casemate,  in  which 
Colonel  Harvey  Browne  has  his  head-quarters. 
After  some  conversation,  he  took  me  out  upon 
the  parapet  and  went  all  over  the  defences. 

Fort  Pickens  is  an  oblique,  and  somewhat  nar 
row  parallelogram,  with  one  obtuse  angle  facing 
the  sea  and  the  other  towards  the  land.  The 
bastion  at  the  acute  angle  towards  Barrancas  is 
the  weakest  part  of  the  work,  and  men  were  en 
gaged  in  throwing  up  an  extempore  glacis  to 
cover  the  wall  and  the  casemates  from  fire. 
The  guns  were  of -what  is  considered  small  cali 
bre  in  these  days,  32  and  42  pounders,  with  four 
or  five  heavy  columbiads.  An  immense  amount 
of  work  has  been  done  within'  the  last  three 
weeks,  but  as  yet  the  preparations  are  by  no 
means  complete.  From  the  walls,  which  are 
made  of  a  hard-baked  brick,  nine  feet  in  thick 
ness,  there  is  a  good  view  of  the  enemy's  posi 
tion.  There  is  a  broad  ditch  round  the  work, 
now  dry,  and  probably  not  intended  for  water. 
The  cuvette  has  lately  been  cleared  out,  and  in 
proof  of  the  agreeable  nature  of  the  locality,  the 
officers  told  me  that  sixty  very  fine  rattlesnakes 
were  killed  by  the  workmen  during  the  opera 
tion. 

As  I  was  looking  at  the  works  from  the  wall, 
Captain  Vogdes  made  a  sly  remark  now  and 
then,  blinking  his  eyes  and  looking  closely  at  my 
face  to  see  if  he  could  extract  any  information. 
"There  are  the  quarters  of  your  friend  General 
Bragg ;  he  pretends,  we  hear,  that  it  is  an  hos 
pital,  but  we  will  soon  have  him  out  when  we 
open  fire."  "  Oh,  indeed."  "That's  their  best 
battery  beside  the  lighthouse  ;  we  can't  well 
make  out  whether  there  are  ten,  eleven,  or  twelve 
guns  in  it."  Then  Captain  Vogdes  became 
quite  meditative,  and  thought  aloud,  "  Well,  I'm 
sure,  Colonel,  they've  got  a  strong  entrenched 
camp  in  that  wood  behind  their  mortar  batter 
ies.  I'm  quite  sure  of  it — we  must  look  to  that 
with  our  long-range  guns."  What  the  engineer 
saw,  must  have  been  certain  absurd  little  fur 
rows  in  the  sand,  which  the  Confederates  have 
thrown  up  about  three  feet  in  front  of  their  tents, 
but  whether  to  carry  off  or  to  hold  rain  water, 
or  as  cover  for  rattlesnakes,  the  best  judge  can 
not  determine. 

The  Confederates  have  been  greatly  delighted 
with  the  idea  that  Pickens  will  be  almost  un 
tenable  during  the  summer  for  the  United  States 
troops,  on  account  of  the  heat  and  musquitoes, 
not  to  speak  of  yellow  fever ;  but  in  fact  they 
are  far  better  off  than  the  troops  on  the  shore — 
the  casemates  are  exceedingly  well  ventilated, 
light  and  airy.  Musquitoes,  yellow  fever,  and 
dysentery  will  make  no  distinction  between  Tro 
jan  and  Tyrinn.  On  the  whole,  I  should  pre 
fer  being  inside,  to  being  outside  of  Pickens,  in 
case  of  a  bombardment;  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  the  entire  destruction  of  the  navy  yard 
ind  station  by  the  Federals  can  be  accomplished 
whenever  they  please.  Colonel  Browne  pointed 
3ut  the  tall  chimney  at  Warrington  smoking 
jway,  and  said,  "There,  sir,  is  the  whole  reason 
of  Bragg's  forbearance,  as  it  is  called.  Do  you 
Bee? — they  are  casting  shot  and  shell  there  as 
fast  as  they  can.  They  know  well  if  thev  opened 
a  gun  on  us  I  could  lay  that  yard  and'all  their 
works  there  in  ruin;"  arid" Colonel  Harvey 
Browne  seems  quite  the  man  for  the  work — a 


resolute,  energetic  veteran,  animated  by  the  ut 
most  dislike  to  secession  and  its  leaders,  and  full 
of  what  are  called  "Union  Principles,"  which 
are  rapidly  becoming  the  mere  expression  of  a 
desire  to  destroy  life,  liberty,  property,  anything 
in  fact  which  opposes  itself  to  the  consolidation 
of  the  Federal  government. 

Probably  no  person  has  ever  been  permitted  to 
visit  two  hostile  camps  within  sight  of  each  other 
save  myself.  I  was  neither  spy,  herald,  nor  am 
bassador  ;  and  both  sides  trusted  to  me  fully  on 
the  understanding  that  I  would  not  make  use  of 
any  information  here,  but  that  it  might  be  com 
municated  to  the  world  at  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic. 

Apropos  of  this,  Colonel  Browne  told  me  an 
amusing  story,  which  shows  that  'cuteness  is  not 
altogether  confined  to  the  Yankees.  Some  days 
ago  a  gentleman  was  found  wandering  about  the 
island,  who  stated  he  was  a  correspondent  of  a 
New  York  paper.  Colonel  Browne  was  not  sat 
isfied  with  the  account  he  gave  of  himself,  and 
sent  him  on  board  one  of  the  ships  of  the  fleet, 
to  be  confined  as  a  prisoner.  Soon  afterwards  a 
flag  of  truce  came  over  from  the  Confederates, 
carrying  a  letter  from  General  Bragg,  request 
ing  Colonel  Browne  to  give  up  the  prisoner,  as 
he  had  escaped  to  the  island  after  committing  a 
felony,  and  enclosing  a  warrant  signed  by  a  just 
ice  of  the  peace  for  his  arrest.  Colonel  Browne 
laughed  at  the  ruse,  and  keeps  his  prisoner. 

As  it  was  approaching  evening  and  I  had  seen 
everything  in  the  fort,  the  hospital,  casemates, 
magazines,  bakehouses,  tasted  the  rations,  and 
drank  the  whisky,  I  set  out  for  the  schooner, 
accompanied  by  Colonel  Browne  and  Captain 
Barry  and  other  officers,  and  picking  up  my 
friends  at  the  bakehouse  outside. 

Having  bidden  our  acquaintances  good-by,  we 
get  on  board  the  Diana,  which  steered  towards 
the  Warrington  navy  yard,  to  take  the  rest  of  the 
party  on  board.  The  sentries  along  the  beach 
and  on  the  batteries  grounded  arms,  and  stared 
with  surprise  as  the  Diana,  with  her  tablecloth 
flying,  crossed  over  from  Fort  Pickens,  and  ran 
slowly  along  the  Confederate  works.  Whilst  we 
were  spying  for  the  Mobile  gentlemen,  the  mate 
took  it  into  his  head  to  take  up  the  Confederate 
bunting,  and  wave  it  over  the  quarter.  "  Hollo, 
what's  that  you're  doing?"  "It's  only  a  signal 
to  the  gentlemen  on  shore."  "  Wave  some  oth 
er  flag,  if  you  please,  when  we  are  in  these  wa 
ters,  with  a  flag  of  truce  flying." 

After  standing  off  and  on  for  some  time,  the 
Mobilians  at  last  boarded  us  in  a  boat.  They 
were  full  of  excitement,  quite  eager  to  stay  and 
see  the  bombardment,  which  must  come  off  in 
twenty-four  hours.  Before  we  had  left  Mobile 
harbour  I  had  made  a  bet  for  a  small  sum  that 
neither  side  would  attack  within  the  next  few 
days;  but  now  I  could  not  even  shake  my  head 
one  way  or  the  other,  and  it  required  the  utmost 
self-possession  and  artifice  of  which  I  was  mas 
ter  to  evade  the  acute  inquiries  and  suggestions 
of  my  good  friends.  I  was  determined  to  go — 
they  were  equally  bent  upon  remaining ;  and  so 
we  parted  after  a  short  but  very  pleasant  cruise 
together. 

We  had  arranged  with  Mr.  Brown  that  we 
would  look  out  for  him  on  leaving  the  harbour, 
and  a  bottle  of  wine  was  put  in  the  remnants  of 
our  ice  to  drink  farewell ;  but  it  was  almost  dark 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


as  the  Diana  shot  out  seawards  between  Pickehs 
and  M'Rae ;  and  for  some  anxious  minutes  we 
were  doubtful  which  would  be  the  first  to  take  a 
shot  at  us.  Our  tablecloth  still  fluttered ;  but 
the  colour  might  be  invisible.  A  lantern  was 
hoisted  astern  by  my  order  as  soon  as  the  schoon 
er  was  clear  of  the  forts ;  and  with  a  cool  sea- 
breeze  we  glided  out  into  the  night,  the  black 
form  of  the  Fowhatan  being  just  visible,  the  rest 
of  the  squadron  lost  in  the  darkness.  We  strained 
our  eyes  for  the  Oriental,  bu^  in  vain;  and  it 
occurred  to  us  that  it  would  scarcely  be  a  very 
safe  proceeding  to  stand  from  the  Confederate 
forts  down  toward  the  guardship,  unless  under 
the  convoy  of  the  Oriental.  It  seemed  quite  cer 
tain  she  must  be  cruising  some  way  to  the  west 
ward,  waiting  for  us. 

The  wind  was  from  the  north,  on  the  best 
point  for  our  return ;  and  the  Diana,  heeling 
over  in  the  smooth  water,  proceeded  on  her  way 
towards  Mobile,  running  so  close  to  the  shore 
that  I  could  shy  a  biscuit  on  the  sand.  She 
seemed  to  breathe  the  wind  through  her  sails, 
and  flew  with  a  crest  of  flame  at  her  bow,  and  a 
bubbling  wake  of  meteor-like  streams  flowing 
astern,  as  though  liquid  metal  were  flowing  from 
a  furnace. 

The  night  was  exceedingly  lovely,  but  after 
the  heat  of  the  day  the  horizon  was  somewhat 
hazy.  "No  sign  of  the  Oriental  on  our  lee- 
bow'?"  "Nothing  at  all  in  sight,  sir,  ahead  or 
astern."  Sharks  and  large  fish  ran  off  from  the 
shallows  as  we  passed,  and  rushed  out  seawards 
in  runs  of  brilliant  light.  The  Perdida  was  left 
far  astern. 

On  sped  the  Diana,  but  no  Oriental  came  in 
view.  I  felt  exceedingly  tired,  heated,  and 
fagged  ;  had  been  up  early,  ridden  in  a  broiling 
sun,  gone  through  batteries,  examined  forts, 
sailed  backwards  and  forwards,  so  I  was  glad  to 
turn  in  out  of  the  night  dew,  and  leaving  injunc 
tions  to  the  captain  to  keep  a  bright  look-out  for 
the  Federal  boarding  schooner,  I  went  to  sleep 
without  the  smallest  notion  that  I  had  seen  my 
last  of  Mr.  Brown. 

I  had  been  two  or  three  hours  asleep  when  I 
was  awoke  by  the  negro  cook,  who  was  leaning 
over  the  berth,  and,  with  teeth  chattering,  said, 
"Monsieur!  nous  sommes  perdus  !  on  bailment 
de  guerre  nous  poursuit — il  va  tirer  bientot. 
Nous  serons  coule !  0*h,  Mon  Dieu !  Oh,  Mon 
Dieu!"  I  started  up  and  popped  my  head 
through  the  hatchway.  The  skipper  himself 
was  at  the  helm,  glancing  from  the  compass  to  the 
quivering  reef-points  of  the  mainsail.  "  What's 
the  matter,  captain."  "Waal,  sir,"  said  the 
captain,  speaking  very  slowly,  "there  has  been 
a  something  a  running  after  us  for  nigh  the  last 
two  hours,  but  he  ain't  a  gaining  on  us.  I  don't 
think  he'll  kitch  us  up  nohow  this  time ;  if  the 
wind  holds  this  pint  a  leetle,  Diana  will  beat 
him." 

The  confidence  of  coasting  captains  in  their 
own  craft  is  an  hallucination  which  no  risk  or 
danger*  will  ever  prevent  them  from  cherishing 
most  tenderly.  There's  not  a  skipper  from 
Hartlepool  to  Whitstable  who  does  not  believe 
his  Maryanne  Smith  or  the  Two  Grandmothers 
is  able,  "on  certain  pints,"  to  bump  her  fat  bows, 
and  drag  her  coal-scuttle-shaped  stern  faster 
through  the  sea  than  any  clipper  afloat.  I  was 
once  told  by  the  captain  of  a  Margate  Billy  Boy 


he  believed  he  could  run  to  windward  of  any 
frigate  in  Her  Majesty's  service. 

"  But,  good  heavens,  man,  it  may  be  the  Ori 
ental — no  doubt  it  is  Mr.  Brown  who  is  looking 
after  us."  "Ah!  Waal,  may  be.  Whoever  it 
is,  he  creeped  quite  close  up  on  me  in  the  dark. 
It  give  me  quite  a  sterk  when  I  seen  him.  '  May 
be,'  says  I,  'he  is  a  privateering — pirating — 
chap.'  So  I  runs  in  shore  as  close  as  I  could ; 
gets  my  centre  board  in,  and,  says  I,  '  I'll  see 
what  you're  made  of,  my  boy.'  And  so  we  goes 
on.  He  ain't  a  gaining  on  us,  I  can  tell  you." 

I  looked  through  the  glass,  and  could  just 
make  out,  half  or  three-quarters  of  a  mile  astern, 
and  to  leeward,  a  vessel,  looking  quite  black, 
which  seemed  to  be  standing  on  in  pursuit  of  us. 
The  shore  was  so  close,  we  could  almost  have 
leaped  into  the  surf,  for  when  the  centre  board 
was  up  the  Diana  did  not  draw  much  more  than 
four  feet  water.  The  skipper  held  grimly  on. 
"You  had  better  shake  your  wind,  and  see  who 
it  is;  it  may  be  Mr.  Brown."  "No,  sz>,  Mr. 
Brown  or  no,  I  can't  help  carrying  on  now ; 
there's  a  bank  runs  all  along  outside  of  us,  and 
if  I  don't  hold  my  course  I'll  be  on  it  in  one 
minute."  I  confess  I  was  rather  annoyed,  but 
the  captain  was  master  of  the  situation.  He 
said,  that  if  it  had  been  the  Oriental  she  would 
have  fired  a  blank  gun  to  bring  us  to  as  soon  as 
she  saw  us.  To  my  inquiries  why  he  did  not 
awaken  me  when  she  was  first  made  out,  he  in 
nocently  replied,  "You  was  in  such  a  beautiful 
sleep,  I  thought  it  would  be  regular  cruelty  to 
disturb  you." 

By  creeping  close  inshore  the  Diana  was  en 
abled  to  keep  to  windward  of  the  stranger,  who 
was  seen  once  or  twice  to  bump  or  strike,  for  her 
sails  shivered.  "There,  she's  struck  again." 
"  She's  off  once  more,"  and  the  chase  is  renew 
ed.  Every  moment  I  expected  to  have  my  eyes 
blinded  by  the  flash  of  her  bow  gun,  but  for  some 
reason  or  another,  possibly  because  she  did  not 
wish  to  check  her  way,  the  Oriental — privateer, 
or  whatever  it  was — saved  her.  powder. 

A  stern  chase  is  a  long  chase.  It  is  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning — the  skipper  grinned  with  de 
light.  "I'll  lead  him  into  a  pretty  mess  if  he 
follows  me  through  the  '  Swash,'  whoever  he  is." 
We  were  but  ten  miles  from  Fort  Morgan. 
Nearer  and  nearer  to  the  shore  creeps  the 
Diana. 

"Take  a  cast  of  the  lead,  John."  "Nine 
feet."  "Good.  Again."  "Seven  feet."  "Again." 
"Five  feet."  "  Charlie,  bring  the  lantern." 
We  were  now  in  the  "Swash,"  with  a  boiling 
tideway. 

Just  at  the  moment  that  the  negro  uncovered 
the  lantern,  out  it  went,  a  fact  which  elicited  the 
most  remarkable  amount  of  imprecations  ear  ever 
heard.  The  captain  went  dancing  mad  in  in 
tervals  of  deadly  calmness,  and  gave  his  com 
mands  to  the  crew,  and  strange  oaths  to  the 
cook  alternately,  as  the  mate  sung  out,  "Five 
feet  and  a  half."  "About  she  goes ! '  Confound 
you,  you  black  scoundrel,  I'll  teach  you,"  &c.,  &c. 
"Six  feet!  Eight  feet  and  a  half!"  "About 
she  comes  again."  "Five  feet !  Four  feet  and 
a  half."  (Oh,  Lord !  Six  inches  under  our 
keel !)  And  so  we  went,  with  a  measurement 
between  us  and  death  of  inches,  not  by  any  means 
agreeable,  in  which  the  captain  showed  remark 
able  coolness  and  skill  in  the  management  of  his 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


87 


craft,  combined  with  a  most  unseemly  animosity 
towards  his  unfortunate  cook. 

It  was  very  little  short  of  a  miracle  that  we 
got  past  the  "Elbow, "as  the  most  narrow  part 
of  the  channel  is  called,  for  it  was  just  at  the 
critical  moment  the  binnacle  light  was  extin 
guished,  and  went  out  with  a  splutter,  and  there 
we  were  left  in  darkness  in  a  channel  not  one 
hundred  yards  wide  and  only  six  feet  deep.  The 
centre  board  also  got  jammed  once  or  twice  when 
it  was  most  important  to  lie  as  close  to  the  wind 
as  possible ;  but  at  last  the  captain  shouted  out, 
"  It's  all  right,  we're  in  deep  water,"  and  calling 
the  mate  to  the  helm,  proceeded  to  relieve  his 
mind  by  chasing  Charlie  into  a  corner  and  be 
labouring  him  with  a  dead  shark  or  dog-fish, 
about  four  feet  long,  which  he  picked  up  from 
the  deck,  as  the  handiest  weapon  he  could  find. 
For  the  whole  morning,  henceforth,  the  captain 
found  great  comfort  in  making  constant  charges 
on  the  hapless  cook,  who  at  last  slyly  threw  the 
shark  overboard  at  a  favourable  opportunity,  and 
forced  his  master  to  resort  to  other  varieties  of 
Rhadamantine  implements.  But  where  was  the 
Oriental  all  this  time  ?  No  one  could  say ;  but 
Charlie,  who  seemed  an  authority  as  to  her 
movements,  averred  she  put  her  helm  round  as 
soon  as  we  entered  the  "  Swash,"  and  disappear 
ed  in  black  night. 

The  Diana"  had  thus  distinguished  herself  by 
running  the  blockade  of  Fensacola,  but  a  new 
triumph  awaited  her.  As  we  approached  Fort 
Morgan,  a  grey  streak  in  the  East  just  offered 
light  enough  to  distinguish  the  outlines  of  the 
fort  and  of  the  Confederate  flag  which  waved 
above  it.  A  fair  breeze  carried  us  abreast  of  the 
signal  station,  one  solitary  light  gleamed  from 
the  walls,  but  neither  guard  boat  put  off  to  board 
us,  nor  did  sentry  hail,  nor  was  gun  fired — still 
we  stood  on.  "Captain,  had  you  not  better  lie 
to?  They'll  be  sending  a  round  shot  after  us 
presently."  "No,  sir.  They  are  all  asleep  in 
that  fort,"  replied  the  indomitable  skipper. 

Down  went  his  helm,  and  away  ran  the  Diana 
into  Mobile  Bay,  and  was  soon  safe  in  the  haze 
beyond  shot  or  shell,  running  towards  the  opposite 
shore.  This  was  glory  enough  for  the  Diana  of 
Mobile.  The  wind  blew  straight  from  the  North 
into  our  teeth,  and  at  bright  sunrise  she  was  only 
a  few  miles  inside  the  bay. 

All  the  livelong  day  was  spent  in  tacking  from 
one  low  shore  to  another  low  shore,  through  wa^r 
which  looked  like  pea  soup.  We  had  to  be  sure 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  Mobile  from  every  point  of 
view,  east  and  west,  with  all  the  varieties  between 
northing  and  southing,  and  numerous  changes  in 
the  position  of  steeples,  sandhills,  and  villas,  the 
sun  roasting  us  all  the  time  and  boiling  the  pitch 
out  of  the  seams. 

The  greatest  excitement  of  the  day  was  an  en 
counter  with  a  young  alligator,  making  an  in 
voluntary  voyage  out  to  sea  in  the  tide-way.  The 
crew  said  he  was  drowning,  having  lost  his  way 
or  being  exhausted  by  struggling  with  the  cur 
rent.  He  was  about  ten  feet  long,  and  appeared 
to  be  so  utterly  done  up  that  he  would  willingly 
have  come  aboard  as  he-passed  within  two  yards 
of  us  ;  but  desponding  as  he  was,  it  would  have 
been  positive  cruelty  to  have  added  him  to  the 
number  of  our  party. 

The  next  event  of  the  day  was  dinner,  in  which 
Charlie  outrivalled  himself  by  a  tremendous  fry 


of  onions  and  sliced  Bologna  sausage,  and  a  piece 
of  pig,  which  had  not  decided  whether  it  was  to 
be  pork  or  bacon. 

Having  been  fourteen  hours  beating  some  twen 
ty-seven  miles,  I  was  landed  at  last  at  a  wharf  in 
the  suburbs  of  the  town  about  five  o'clock  in  the 
evening.  On  my  way  to  the  Battle  House  I  met 
seven  distinct  companies  marching  through  the 
streets  to  drill,  and  the  air  was  filled  with  sounds 
of  bugling  and  drumming.  In  the  evening  a 
number  of  gentlemen  called  upon  me  to  inquire 
what  I  thought  of  Fort  Pickens  and  Pensacola, 
and  I  had  some  difficulty  in  parrying  their  very 
home  questions,  but  at  last  adopted  a  formula 
which  appeared  to  please  them — I  assured  my 
friends  I  thought  it  would  be  an  exceedingly 
tough  business  "whenever  the  bombardment  took 
place. 

One  of  the  most  important  steps  which  I  have 
yet  heard  of  has  excited  little  attention,  namely, 
the  refusal  of  the  officer  commanding  Fort  Mac 
Henry,  at  Baltimore,  to  obey  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  issued  by  a  judge  of  that  city  for  the  per 
son  of  a  soldier  of  his  garrison.  This  military 
officer  takes  upon  himself  to  aver  there  is  a  state 
of  civil  war  in  Baltimore,  which  he  considers  suf 
ficient  legal  cause  for  the  suspension  of  the  writ. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Judge  Campbell— Dr.  Nott— Slavery— Departure  for  New- 
Orleans — Down  the  ri\rer — Tear  of  Cruiser? — Approach 
to  New  Orleans— Duelling — Streets  of  New  Orleans — 
Unhealthiness  of  the  city — Public  opinion  as  to  the  war 
— Happy  and  contented  negroes. 

May  18th. —  An  exceedingly  hot  day,  which 
gives  bad  promise  of  comfort  for  the  Federal  sol 
diers,  who  are  coming,  as  the  Washington  Gov 
ernment  asserts,  to  put  down  the  rebellion  in  these 
quarters.  The  musquitoes  are  advancing  in  num 
bers  and  force.  The  day  I  first  came  I  asked  the 
waiter  if  they  were  numerous.  "  I  wish  they 
were  a  hundred  times  as  many,"  said  he.  On 
inquiring  i'f  he  had  any  possible  reason  for  such 
an  extraordinary  aspiration,  he  said,  "Because 
we  would  get  rid  of  these  darned  black  republi 
cans  out  of  Fort  Pickens  all  the  sooner."  The 
man  seemed  to  infer  they  would  not  bite  the  Con 
federate  soldiers. 

I  dined  at  Dr  Nott's,  and  met  Judge  Camp 
bell,  who  has  resigned  his  high  post  as  one  of 
the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  and  explained  his  reasons  for  doing  so  in 
a  letter,  charging  Mr.  Seward  with  treachery, 
dissimulation,  and  falsehood.  He  seemed  to  me 
a  great  casuist  rather  than  a  profound  lawyer, 
and  to  delight  in  subtle  distinctions  and  techni 
cal  abstractions;  but  I  had  the  advantage  of 
hearing  from  him  at  great  length  the  whole  his 
tory  of  the  Dred  Scot  case,  and  a  recapitulation 
of  the  arguments  used  on  both  sides,  the  force  of 
which,  in  his  opinion,  was  irresistibly  in  favor  of 
the  decision  of  the  Court.  Mr.  Forsyth,  Colonel 
Hardee,  and  others  were  of  the  company. 

To  me  it  was  very  painful  to  hear  a  sweet  ring 
ing  silvery  voice,  issuing  from  a  very  pi-etty  mouth, 
"I'm  so  delighted  to  hear  that  the  Yankees  in 
Fortress  Monroe  have  got  typhus  fever.  I  hope 
it  may  kill  them  all."  This  was  said  by  one  of 
the  most  charming  young  persons  possible,  and 
uttered  with  unmistakeable  sincerity,  just  as  if 
she  had  said,  "I  hear  all  the  snakes  in  Virginia 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


are  dying  of  poison."  I  fear  the  young  lady  did 
not  think  very  highly  of  me  for  refusing  to  sym 
pathise  with  her  wishes  in  that  particular  form. 
But  all  the  ladies  in  Mobile  belong  to  "The 
Yankee  Emancipation  Society."  They  spend 
their  days  sewing  cartridges,  carding  lint,  pre 
paring  bandages,  and  I'm  not  quite  sure  that 
they  don't  fill  shells  and  fuses  as  well.  Their 
zeal  and  energy  will  go  far  to  sustain  the  South 
in  the  forthcoming  struggle,  and  nowhere  is  the 
influence  of  women  greater  than  in  America. 

As  to  Dr.  Nott,  his  studies  have  induced  him 
to  take  a  purely  materialist  view  of  the  question 
of  slavery,  and,  according  to  him,  questions  of 
morals  and  ethics,  pertaining  to  its  consideration, 
ought  to  be  referred  to  the  cubic  capacity  of  the 
human  cranium — the  head  that  can  take  the 
largest  charge  of  snipe-shot  will  eventually  dom 
inate  in  some  form  or  other  over  the  head  of  in 
ferior  capacity.  Dr.  Nott  detests  slavery,  but  he 
does  not  see  what  is  to  be  done  with  the  slaves, 
and  how  the  four  millions  of  negroes  are  to  be 
prevented  from  becoming  six,  eight,  or  ten  mill 
ions,  if  their  growth  is  stimulated  by  high  prices 
for  Southern  produce. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  force  in  the  observa 
tion  which  I  have  heard  more  than  once  down 
here,  that  Great  Britain  could  not  have  emanci 
pated  her  negroes  had  they  been  dwelling  with 
in  her  border,  say  in  Lancashire  or  Yorkshire. 
No  inconvenience  was  experienced  by  the  En 
glish  people  per  se  in  consequence  of  the  eman 
cipation,  which  for  the  time  destroyed  industry 
and  shook  society  to  pieces  in  Jamaica.  Whilst 
the  States  were  colonies,  Great  Britain  viewed 
the  introduction  of  slaves  to  such  remote  depend 
encies  with  satisfaction,  and  when  the  United 
States  had  established  their  sovereignty  they 
found  the  institution  of  slavery  established  with 
in  their  own  borders,  and  an  important,  if  not 
essential,  stratum  in  their  secial  system.  The 
work  of  emancipation  would  have  then  been  com- 
paratively  easy,  it  now  is  a  stupendous  problem 
which  no  human  being  has  offered  to  solve. 

May  19</i. — The  heat  out  of  doors  was  so  great 
that  I  felt  little  tempted  to  stir  out,  but  at  two 
o'clock  Mr.  Magee  drove  me  to  a  pretty  place, 
called  Spring  Hill,  where  Mr.  Stein,  a  German 
merchant  of  the  city,  has  his  country  residence. 
The  houses  of  Mobile  merchants  are  scattered 
around  the  rising  ground  in  that  vicinity ;  they 
look  like  marble  at  a  distance,  but  a  nearer  ap 
proach  resolves  them  into  painted  wood.  Stone 
is  almost  unknown  on  all  this  seaboard  region. 
The  worthy  German  was  very  hospitable,  and  I 
enjoyed  a  cool  walk  before  dinner  under  the 
shade  of  his  grapes,  which  formed  pleasant  walks 
in  his  garden.  The  Scuppernung  grape,  which 
grew  in  profusion — a  native  of  North  Carolina — 
has  a  remarkable  appearance.  The  stalk,  which 
is  smooth,  and  covered  with  a  close-grained  grey 
bark,  has  not  the  character  of  a  vine,  but  grows  | 
straight  and  stiff  like  the  branch  of  a  tree,  and 
Is  crowded  with  delicious  grapes.  Cherokee  plum 
and  rose  trees,  and  magnificent  magnolias,  clus 
tered  round  his  house,  and  beneath  their  shadow  I 
I  listened  to  the  worthy  German  comparing  the  J 
Fatherland  to  his  adopted  country,  and  now  and 
then  letting  out  the  secret  love  of  his  heart  for 
the  old  place.  He,  like  all  the  better  classes  in 
the  South,  has  the  utmost  dread  of  universal  suf 
frage,  and  would  restrict  the  franchise  largely 
to-morrow  if  he  could. 


May  20th. — I  left  Mobile  in  the  steamer  Flori 
da  for  New  Orleans  this  morning  at  eight  o'clock. 
She  was  crowded  with  passengers  in  uniform. 
In  my  cabin  was  a  notice  of  the  rules  and  regu 
lations  of  the  steamer.  No.  6  was  as  follows : 
"All  slave  servants  must  be  cleared  at  the  Cus 
tom  House.  Passengers  having  slaves  will  please 
report  as  soon  as  they  come  on  board." 

A  few  miles  from  Mobile  the  steamer,  turning 
to  the  right,  entered  one  of  the  narrow  channels 
which  perforate  the  whole  of  the  coast,  called 
"  Grant's  Pass."  An  ingenious  person  has  ren 
dered  it  navigable  by  an  artificial  cut ;  but  as  he 
was  not  an  universal  philanthropist,  and  possibly 
may  have  come  from  north  of  the  Tweed,  he  fur 
ther  erected  a  series  of  barriers,  which  can  only 
be  cleared  by  means  of  a  little  pepper-castor  iron 
lighthouse;  and  he  charges  toll  on  all  passing 
vessels.  A  small  island  at  the  pass,  just  above 
water-level,  about  twenty  yards  broad  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  long,  was  being  fortified. 
Some  of  our  military  friends  landed  here  ;  and  it 
required  a  good  deal  of  patriotism  to  look  cheer 
fully  at  the  prospect  of  remaining  cooped  up 
among  the  musquitoes  in  a  box,  on  this  miser 
able  sand-bank,  which  a  shell  would  suffice  to 
blow  into  atoms. 

Having  passed  this  channel,  our  steamer  pro 
ceeded  up  a  kind  of  internal  sea,  formed  by  the 
shore,  on  the  right  hand  and  on"  the  left  by^a 
chain  almost  uninterrupted  of  reefs  covered  with 
sand,  and  exceedingly  narrow,  so  that  the  surf 
of  the  ocean  rollers  at  the  other  side  could  be 
seen  through  the  foliage  of  the  pine  trees  which 
line  them.  On  our  right  the  endless  pines' closed 
up  the  land  view  of  the  horizon  ;  the  beach  was 
pierced  by  creeks  without  number,  called  bayous; 
and  it  was  curious  to  watch  the  white  sails  of  the 
little  schooners  gliding  in  and  out  among  the 
trees,  along  the  green  meadows  that  seemed  to 
stretch  as  an  impassable  barrier  to  their  exit. 
Immense  troops  of  pelicans  flapped  over  the  sea, 
dropping  incessantly  on  the  fish  which  abounded 
in  the  inner  water ;  and  long  rows  of  the  same 
birds  stood  digesting  their  plentiful  meals  on  the 
white  beach  by  the  ocean  foam. 

There  was  some  anxiety  in  the  passengers' 
minds,  as  it  was  reported  that  the  United  States' 
cruisers  had  been  seen  inside,  and  that  they  had 
even  burned  the  batteries  on  Ship  Island.  We 
saw  nothing  of  a  character  more  formidable  than 
coasting  craft  and  a  return  steamer  from  New 
Orleans  till  we  approached  the  entrance  to  Pont- 
chartrain,  when  a  large  schooner,  which  sailed 
like  a  witch  and  was  crammed  with  men,  at 
tracted  our  attention.  Through  the  glass  I  could 
make  out  two  guns  on  her  deck,  and  quite  rea 
son  enough  for  any  well-filled  merchantman  sail 
ing  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes  to  avoid  her 
close  companionship. 

The  approach  to  New  Orleans  is  indicated  by 
large  hamlets  and  scattered  towns  along  the  sea 
shore,  hid  in  the  piney  woods,  which  offer  a  re 
treat  to  the  merchants  and  their  families  from 
the  fervid  heat  of  the  unwholesome  city  in  sum 
mer  time.  As  seen  from  the  sea,  these  sanitary 
settlements  have  a  picturesque  effect,  and  an  air 
of  charming  freshness  and  lightness.  There  are 
detached  villas  of  every  variety  of  architecture 
in  which  timber  can  be  constructed,  painted  in 
the  brightest  hues — greens,  and  blues,  and  rose 
tints — each  embowered  in  magnolias  and  rho- 


MY  DIARY  NOKTH  AND  SOUTH. 


dodendrons.  From  every  garden  a  very  long 
and  slender  pier,  terminated  by  a  bathing-box, 
stretches  into  the  shallow  sea ;  and  the  general 
aspect  of  these  houses,  with  the  light  domes  and 
spires  of  churches  rising  above  the  lines  of  white 
railings  set  in  the  dark  green  of  the  pines,  is 
light  and  novel.  To  each  of  these  cities  there  is 
a  jetty,  at  two  of  which  we  touched,  and  landed 
newspapers,  received  or  discharged  a  few  bales 
of  goods,  and  were  off  again. 

Of  the  little  crowd  assembled  on  each,  the  ma 
jority  were  blacks — the  whites,  almost  without 
exception,  in  uniform,  and  armed.  A  nearer 
approach  did  not  induce  me  to  think  that  any 
agencies  less  powerful  than  epidemics  and  sum 
mer-heats  could  render  Pascagoula,  Passchris- 
tian,  Mississippi  City,  and  the  rest  of  these  set 
tlements  very  eligible  residences  for  people  of  an 
active  turn  of  mind. 

The  live-long  day  my  fellow-passengers  never 
ceased  talking  politics,  except  when  they  were 
eating  and  drinking,  because  the  horrible  chew 
ing  and  spitting  are  not  at  all  incompatible  with 
the  maintenance  of  active  discussion.  The 
fiercest  of  them  all  was  a  thin,  fiery-eyed  little 
woman,  who  at  dinner  expressed  a  fervid  desire 
for  bits  of  "  Old  Abe" — his  ear,  his  hair ;  but 
whether  for  the  purpose  of  eating  or  as  curious 
reliques,  she  did  not  enlighten  the  company. 

After  dinner  there  was  some  slight  difficulty 
among  the  military  gentlemen,  though  whether 
of  a  political  or  personal  character  I  could  not 
determine ;  but  it  was  much  aggravated  by  the 
appearance  of  a  six-shooter  on  the  scene,  w'hich, 
to  my  no  small  perturbation,  was  presented  in  a 
right  line  with  my  berth,  out  of  the  window  of 
which  I  was  looking  at  the  combatants.  I  am 
happy  to  say  the  immediate  delivery  of  the  fire 
was  averted  by  an  amicable  arrangement  that 
the  disputants  should  meet  at  the  St.  Charles 
Hotel  at  12  o'clock  on  the  second  day  after  their 
arrival,  in  order  to  fix  time,  place,  and  condi 
tions  of  a  more  orthodox  and  regular  encounter. 

At  night  the  steamer  entered  a  dismal  canal, 
through  a  swamp  which  is  infamous  as  the  most 
musquito  haunted  place  along  the  infested  shore  ; 
the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi  themselves  being 
quite  innocent,  compared  to  the  entrance  of 
Lake  Pontchartrain.  When  I  woke  up  at  day 
light,  I  found  the  vessel  lying  alongside  a  wharf 
with  a  railway  train  alongside,  which  is  to  take 
us  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  six  miles  distant. 

A  village  of  restaurants  or  "restaurats"  as 
they  are  called  here,  and  of  bathing-boxes,  has 
grown  up  around  the  terminus ;  all  the  names 
of  the  owners,  the  notices  and  sign-boards,  being 
French.  Outside  the  settlement  the  railroad 
passes  through  a  swamp,  like  an  Indian  jungle, 
through  which  the  overflowings  of  the  Mississip 
pi  creep  in  black  currents.  The  spires  of  New 
Orleans  rise  above  the  underwood .  arid  semi- 
tropical  vegetation  of  this  swamp.  Nearer  to  the 
city  lies  a  marshy  plain,  in  which  flocks  of  cat 
tle,  up  to  the  belly  in  the  soft  earth,  are  floun 
dering  among  the  clumps  of  vegetation.  The 
nearer  approach  to  New  Orleans  by  rail  lies 
through  a  suburb  of  exceedingly  broad  lanes, 
lined  on  each  side  by  rows  of  miserable  mean 
one-storied  houses,  inhabited,  if  I  am  to  judge 
from  the  specimens  I  saw,  by  a  miserable  and 
sickly  population. 

A  great  number  of  the  men  and  women  had 


evident  traces  of  negro  blood  in  their  veins,  and 
of  the  purer  blooded  whites  many  had  the  pe 
culiar  look  of  the  fishy-fleshy  population  of  the 
Levantine  towns,  and  all  were  pale  and  lean. 
The  railway  terminus  is  marked  by  a  dirty,  bar 
rack-like  shed  in  the  city.  Selecting  one  of  the 
numerous  tumble-down  hackney  carriages  which 
crowded  the  street  outside  the  station,  I  directed 
the  man  to  drive  me  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Mure, 
the  British  consul,  who  had  been  kind  enough  to 
invite  me  as  his  guest  for  the  period  of  my  stay 
in  New  Orleans. 

The  streets  are  badly  paved,  as  those  of  most 
of  the  American  cities,  if  not  all  that  I  have  ever 
been  in,  but  in  other  respects  they  are  more  wor 
thy  of  a  great  city  than  are  those  of  New  York. 
There  is  an  air  thoroughly  French  about  the  peo 
ple — cafe's,  restaurants,  billiard  -  rooms  abound, 
with  oyster  and  lager-bier  saloons  interspersed. 
The  shops  are  all  magazins ;  the  people  in  the 
streets  are  speaking  French,  particularly  the 
negroes,  who  are  going  out  shopping  with  their 
masters  and  mistresses,  exceedingly  well  dressed, 
noisy,  and  not  unhappy  looking.  The  extent  of 
the  drive  gave  an  imposing  idea  of  the  size  of 
New  Orleans — the  richness  of  some  of  the  shops, 
the  vehicles  in  the  streets,  and  the  multitude  of 
well-dressed  people  on  the  pavements,  an  impres 
sion  of  its  wealth  and  the  comfort  of  the  inhab 
itants.  The  Confederate  flag  was  flying  from 
the  public  buildings  and  from  many  private 
houses.  Military  companies  paraded  through 
the  streets,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  men 
were  in  uniform. 

In  the  day  I  drove  through  the  city,  delivered 
letters  of  introduction,  paid  visits,  and  examined 
the  shops  and  the  public  places ;  but  there  is 
such  a  whirl  of  secession  and  politics  surround 
ing  one  it  is  impossible  to  discern  much  of  the 
outer  world. 

Whatever  may  be  the  number  of  the  unionists 
or  of  the  non-secessionists,  a  pressure  too  potent 
to  be  resisted  has  been  directed  by  the  popular 
party  against  the  friends  of  the  Federal  govern 
ment.  The  agent  of  Brown  Bi-others,  of  Liver 
pool  and  New  York,  has  closed  their  office,  and 
is  going  away  in  consequence  of  the  intimidation 
of  the  mob,  or  as  the  phrase  is  here,  the  "excite 
ment  of  the  citizens,"  on  hearing  of  the  subscrip 
tion  made  by  the  firm  to  the  New  York  fund, 
after  Sumter  had  been  fired  upon.  Their  agent 
in  Mobile  has  been  compelled  to  adopt  the  same 
course.  Other  houses  follow  their  example,  but 
as  most  business  transactions  are  over  for  the 
season,  the  mercantile  community  hope  the  con 
test  will  be  ended  before  the  next  season,  by  the 
recognition  of  Southern  independence. 

The  streets  are  full  of  Turcos,  Zouaves,  Chas 
seurs  ;  walls  are  covered  with  placards  of  volun 
teer  companies ;  there  are  Pickwick  rifles,  La 
Fayette,  Beauregard,  MacMah0*i  guards,  Irish, 
German,  Italian,  and  Spanish,  and  native  volun 
teers,  among  whom  the  Meagher  rifles,  indignant 
with  the  gentleman  from  whom  they  took  their 
name,  because  of  his  adhesion  to  the  North,  are 
going  to  rebaptise  themselves  and  to  seek  glory- 
under  one  more  auspicious.  In  fact,  New  Or 
leans  looks  like  a  suburb  of  the  camp  at  Chalons. 
Tailors  are  busy  night  and  day  making  uniforms. 
I  went  into  a  shop  with  the  consul  for  some 
shirts — the  mistress  and  all  her  seamstresses  were 
busy  preparing  flags  as  hard  as  the  sewing  ma- 


90 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


chine  could  stitch  them,  and  could  attend  to  no 
business  for  the  present.  The  Irish  population, 
finding  themselves  unable  .to  migrate  North 
wards,  and  being  without  work,  have  rushed  to 
arms  with  enthusiasm  to  support  Southern  insti 
tutions,  and  Mr.  John  Mitchell  and  Mr.  Meagher 
stand  opposed  to  each  other  in  hostile  camps. 

May  22nd. — The  thermometer  to-day  marked 
95°  in  the  shade.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  New  Orleans  suffers  from  terrible  epidemics. 
At  the  side  of  each  street  a  filthy  open  sewer 
flows  to  and  fro  with  the  tide  in  the  blazing  sun, 
and  Mr.  Mure  tells  me  the  city  lies  so  low  that 
he  has  been  obliged  to  go  to  his  office  in  a  boat 
along  the  streets. 

I  sat  for  some  time  listening  to  the  opinions 
of  the  various  merchants  who  came  to  talk  over 
the  news  and  politics  in  general.  They  were  all 
persuaded  that  Great  Britain  would  speedily  rec 
ognise  the  South,  but  I  cannot  find  that  any  of 
them  had  examined  into  the  effects  of  such  a 
recognition.  One  gentleman  seemed  to  think 
to-day  that  recognition  meant  forcing  the  block 
ade  ;  whereas  it  must,  as  I  endeavoured  to  show 
him,  merely  lead  to  the  recognition  of  the  rights 
of  the  United  States  to  establish  a  blockade  of 
ports  belonging  to  an  independent  and  hostile 
nation.  There  are  some  who  maintain  that 
there  will  be  no  war  after  all;  that  the  North 
will  not  fight,  and  that  the  friends  of  the  South 
ern  cause  will  recover  their  courage  when  this 
tyranny  is  over.  No  one  imagines  the  South 
will  ever  go  back  to  the  Union  voluntarily,  or 
that  the  North  has  power  to  thrust  it  back  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet. 

The  South  has  commenced  preparations  for 
the  contest  by  sowing  grain  instead  of  planting 
cotton,  to  compensate  for  the  loss  of  supplies 
from  the  North.  The  payment  of  debts  to  North 
ern  creditors  is  declared  to  be  illegal,  and  "stay 
laws"  have  been  Adopted  in  most  of  the  seceding 
states,  by  which  the  ordinary  laws  for  the  recov 
ery  of  debts  in  the  States  themselves  are  for  the 
time  suspended,  which  may  lead  one  into  the  be 
lief  that  the  legislators  themselves  belong  to  the 
debtor  instead  of  the  creditor  class. 

May  23rd. — As  the  mail  communication  has 
been  suspended  between  North  and  South,  and 
the  Express  Companies  are  ordered  not  to  carry 
letters,  I  sent  off  my  packet  of  despatches  to-day 
by  Mr.  Ewell,  of  the  house  of  Dennistoun  &  Co. ; 
and  resumed  my  excursions  through  New  Or 
leans. 

The  young  artist  who  is  stopping  at  the  St. 
Charles  Hotel,  came  to  me  in  great  agitation  to 
say  his  life  was  in  danger,  in  consequence  of  his 
former  connexion  with  an  abolition  paper  of 
New  York,  and  that  he  had  been  threatened  with 
death  by  a  man  with  whom  he  had  had  a  quar 
rel  in  Washington.  Mr.  Mure,  to  calm  his  ap 
prehensions,  offered  to  take  him  to  the  authori 
ties  of  the  town,  who  wouldj  no  doubt,  protect 
him,  as  he  was  merely  engaged  in  making  sketch 
es  for  an  English  periodical,  but  the  young  man 
declared  he  was  in  danger  of  assassination.  He 
entreated  Mr.  Mure  to  give  him  despatches  which 
would  serve  to  protect  him,  on  his  way  North 
ward  ;  and  the  Consul,  moved  by  his  mental  dis 
tress,  promised  that  if  he  had  any  letters  of  an 
official  character  for  Washington,  he  would  send 
them  by  him,  in  default  of  other  opportunities. 

I  dined  with  Major  Ranney,  the  president  of 


one  of  the  railways,  with  whom  Mr.  Ward  was 
stopping.  Among  the  company  were  Mr.  Eus- 
tis,  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Slidell ;  Mr.  Morse,  the 
attorney-general  of  the  State ;  Mr.  Moise,  a  Jew, 
supposed  to  have  considerable  influence  with  the 
governor,  and  a  vehement  politician  ;  Messrs. 
Hunt,  and  others.  The  table  was  excellent,  and 
the  wines  were  worthy  of  the  reputation  which 
our  host  enjoys,  in  a  city  where  Sallusts  and  Lu- 
culli  are  said  to  abound.  One  of  the  slave  serv 
ants  who  waited  at  table,  an  intelligent  yellow 
"  boy,"  was  pointed  out  to  me  as  a  son  of  Gen 
eral  Andrew  Jackson. 

We  had  a  full  account  of  the  attack  of  the 
British  troops  on  the  city,  and  their  repulse.  Mr. 
Morse  denied  emphatically  that  there  was  any 
cotton-bag  fortification  in  front  of  the  lines,  where 
our  troops  were  defeated ;  he  asserted  that  there 
were  only  a  few  bales,  I  think  seventy-five,  used 
in  the  construction  of  one  battery,  and  that  they 
and  some  sugar  hogsheads  constituted  the  sole 
defences  of  the  American  trench.  Only  one  citi 
zen  applied  to  the  state  for  compensation  on  ac 
count  of  the  cotton  used  by  Jackson's  troops,  and 
he  owned  the  whole  of  the  bales  so  appropriated. 

None  of  the  Southern  gentlemen  have  the 
smallest  apprehension  of  a  servile  insurrection. 
They  use  the  universal  formula  "  our  negroes  are 
the  happiest,  most  contented,  and  most  comfort 
able  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth."  I  admit 
I  have  been  struck  by  well-clad  and  good-hu 
moured  negroes  in  the  streets,  but  they  are  in 
the  minority;  many  look  morose,  ill-clad,  and 
discontented.  The  patrols  I  know  have  been 
strengthened,  and  I  heard  a  young  lady  the  other 
night  say,  "  I  shall  not  be  a  bit  afraid  to  go  back 
to  the  plantation,  though  mamma  says  the  ne 
groes  are  after  mischief. " 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

The  first  blow  struck— The  St.  Charles  hotel— Invasion  of 
Virginia  by  the  Federals— Death  of  Colonel  Ellsworth- 
Evening  at  Mr.  Slidell's — Public  comments  on  the  war 
— Richmond  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy — Military 
preparations— General  society— Jewish  element — Visit 
to  a  battle-field  of  1815. 

May  21th. — A  great  budget  of  news  to-day, 
which  with  the  events  of  the  week  may  be  brief 
ly  enumerated.  The  fighting  has  actually  com 
menced  between  the  United  States  steamers  off 
Fortress  Monroe,  and  the  Confederate  battery 
erected  at  Sewall's  point  —  both  sides  claim  a 
certain  success.  The  Confederates  declare  they 
riddled  the  steamer,  and  that  they  killed  and 
wounded  a  number  of  the  sailors.  The  captain 
of  the  vessel  says  he  desisted  from  want  of  am 
munition,  but  believes  he  killed  a  number  of  the 
rebels,  and  knows  he  had  no  loss  himself.  Be- 
riah  Magoffin,  governor  of  the  sovereign  state  of 
Kentucky,  has  warned  off  both  Federal  and  Con 
federate  soldiers  from  his  territory.  The  Con 
federate  congress  has  passed  an  act  authorizing 
persons  indebted  to  the  United  States,  except 
Delaware,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  and 
the  district  of  Columbia,  to  pay  the  amount  of 
their  debts  to  the  Confederate  treasury.  The 
State  Convention  of  North  Carolina  has  passed 
an  ordinance  of  secession.  Arkansas  has  sent 
its  delegates  to  the  Southern  congress.  Several 
Southern  vessels  have  been  made  prizes  by  the 
blockading  squadron ;  but  the  event  which  causes 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


91 


the  greatest  excitement  and  indignation  here, 
was  the  seizure,  on  Monday,  by  the  United 
States'  marshals,  in  every  large  city  thoughout 
the  Union,  of  the  telegraphic  despatches  of  the 
last  twelve  months. 

In  the  course  of  the  day,  I  went  to  the  St. 
Charles  Hotel,  which  is  an  enormous  establish 
ment,  of  the  American  type,  with  a  Southern 
character  about  it.  A  number  of  gentlemen 
were  seated  in  the  hall,  and  front  of  the  office, 
with  their  legs  up  against  the  wall,  and  on  the 
backs  of  chairs,  smoking,  spitting,  and  reading 
the  papers.  Officers  crowded  the  bar.  The  bus 
tle  and  noise  of  the  place  would  make  it  any 
thing  but  an  agreeable  residence  for  one  fond 
of  quiet ;  but  this  hotel  is  famous  for  its  diffi 
culties.  Not  the  least  disgraceful  among  them 
was  the  assault  committed  by  some  of  Walker's 
filibusters  upon  Captain  Aldham,  of  the  R.  Navy. 

The  young  artist,  who  has  been  living  in  great 
seclusion,  was  fastened  up  in  his  room ;  and 
when  I  informed  him  that  Mr.  Mure  had  de 
spatches,  which  he  might  take,  if  he  liked,  that 
night,  he  was  overjoyed  to  excess.  He  started 
off  north  in  the  evening,  and  I  saw  him  no 
more. 

At  half-past  four,  I  went  down  by  train  to  the 
terminus  on  the  lake  where  I  had  landed,  which 
is  the  New  Orleans  Richmond,  or  rather,  Green 
wich,  and  dined  with  Mr.  Eustis,  Mr.  Johnson 
an  English  merchant,  Mr.  Josephs  a  New  Or 
leans  lawyer,  and  Mr.  Hunt.  The  dinner  was 
worthy  of  the  reputation  of  the  French  cook. 
The  terrapin  sonp  excellent,  though  not  com 
parable,  as  Americans  assert,  to  the  best  turtle. 
The  creature  from  which  it  derives  its  name,  is 
a  small  tortoise,  the  flesh  is  boiled  somewhat  in 
the  manner  of  turtle,  but  the  soup  abounds  in 
small  bones,  and  the  black  paws  with  the  white 
nail-like  stumps  projecting  from  them,  found 
amongst  the  disjecta  membra,  arc  not  agreeable 
to  look  upon.  The  bouillabaisse  was  unexcep 
tionable,  the  soft  crab  worthy  of  every  com 
mendation,  but  the  best  dish  was,  unquestiona 
bly,  the  pompinoe,  an  odd  fish,  something  like 
an  unusually  ugly  John  Dory,  but  possessing  ad 
mirable  qualities  in  all  that  makes  fish  good. 
The  pleasures  of  the  evening  were  enhanced  by 
a  most  glorious  sunset,  which  cast  its  last  rays 
through  a  wilderness  of  laurel  roses  in  full  bloom, 
which  thronged  the  garden.  At  dusk,  the  air 
was  perfectly  alive  with  fire-flies  and  strange 
beetles.  Flies  and  coleopters  buzzed  in  through 
the  open  windows,  and  flopped  among  the  glass 
es.  At  half-past  nine  we  returned  home  in  cars 
drawn  by  horses  along  the  rail. 

May  25th. — Virginia  has  indeed  been  invaded 
by  the  Federals.  Alexandria  has  been  seized. 
It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  excitement  and 
rage  of  the  people;  they  take,  however,  some 
consolation  in  the  fact  that  Colonel  Ellsworth, 
in  command  of  a  regiment  of  New  York  Zouaves, 
was  shot  by  J.  T.  Jackson,  the  landlord  of  an 
inn  in  the  city,  called  the  Marshal  Plouse. 
Ellsworth,  on  the  arrival  of  his  regiment  in  Al 
exandria,  proceeded  to  take  down  the  secession 
flag,  which  had  been  long  seen  from  the  Presi 
dent's  windows.  He  went  out  upon  the  roof, 
cut  it  from  the  staff,  and  was  proceeding  with  it 
down  stairs,  when  a  man  rushed  out  of  a  room, 
levelling  a  double-barrelled  gun,  shot  Colonel 
Ellsworth  dead,  and  fired  the  other  barrel  at  one 


of  his  men,  who  had  struck  at  the  piece  when 
the  murderer  presented  it  at  the  Colonel.  Al 
most  instantaneously,  the  Zouave  shot  Jackson 
in  the  head,  and  as  he  was  falling  dead  thrust  his 
sabre  bayonet  through  his  body.  Strange  to  say, 
the  people  of  New  Orleans  consider  Jackson  was 
completely  right  in  shooting  the  Federal  colo 
nel,  and  maintain  that  the  Zouave,  who  shot 
Jackson,  was  guilty  of  murder.  Their  theory  is 
that  Ellsworth  had  come  over  with  a  horde  of 
ruffianly  abolitionists,  or,  as  the  Richmond  Exam 
iner  has  it,  "  the  band  of  thieves,  robbers  and  as 
sassins,  in  the  pay  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  com 
monly  known  as  the  United  States'  Army,"  to 
violate  the  territory  of  a  sovereign  state,  in  order 
to  execute  their  bloody  and  brutal  purposes,  and 
that  he  was  in  the  act  of  committing  a  robbery, 
by  taking  a  flag  which  did  not  belong  to  him, 
when  he  met  his  righteous  fate. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  passion  blinds 
man's  reason  in  this  quarrel.  More  curious  still 
to  see,  by  the  light  of  this  event,  how  differently 
the  same  occurrence  is  viewed  by  Northerners 
and  Southerners  respectively.  Jackson  is  de 
picted  in  the  Northern  papers  as  a  fiend  and  an 
assassin;  even  his  face  in  death  is  declared  to 
have  worn  a  revolting  expression  of  rage  and 
hate.  The  Confederate  flag,  which  was  the  cause 
of  the  fatal  affray,  is  described  by  one  writer  as 
having  been  purified  of  its  baseness  by  contact 
with  Ellsworth's  blood.  The  invasion  of  Virginia 
is  hailed  on  all  sides  of  the  North  with  the  ut 
most  enthusiasm.  "  Ellsworth  is  a  martyr  hero, 
whose  name  is  to  be  held  sacred  forever." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Southern  papers  de 
clare  that  the  invasion  of  Virginia  is  "an  act 
of  the  Washington  tyrants,  which  indicates  their 
bloody  and  brutal  purpose  to  exterminate  the 
Southern  people.  The  Virginians  will  give  the 
world  another  proof,  like  that  of  Moscow,  that 
a  free  people,  fighting  on  a  free  soil,  are  invin 
cible  when  contending  for  all  that  is  dear  to 
man."  Again  —  "A  band  of  execrable  cut 
throats  and  jail-birds,  known  as  the  Zouaves  of 
New  York,  under  that  chief  of  all  scoundrels, 
Ellsworth,  broke  open  the  door  of  a  citizen,  to 
tear  down  the  flag  of  the  house — the  courageous 
owner  met  the  favorite  hero  of  the  Yankees  in 
his  own  hall,  alone,  against  thousands,  and  shot 
him  through  the  heart — he  died  a  death  which 
emperors  might  envy,  and  his  memory  will  live 
through  endless  generations."  Desperate,  in 
deed,  must  have  been  the  passion  and  anger  of 
the  man  who,  in  the  fullest  certainty  that  imme 
diate  death  must  be  its  penalty,  committed  such 
a  deed.  As  it  seems  U>  me,  Colonel  Ellsworth, 
however  injudicious  he  may  have  been,  was  act 
ually  in  the  performance  of  his  duty  when  tak 
ing  down  the  flag  of  an  enemy. 

In  the  evening  I  visited  Mr.  Slidell,  whom  I 
found  at  home,  with  his  family,  Mrs.  Slidell  and 
her  sister  Madame  Beauregard,  wife  of  the  gen 
eral,  two  very  charming  young  ladies,  daughters 
of  the  house,  and  a  parlour  full  of  fair  compan 
ions,  engaged,  as  hard  as  they  could,  in  carding 
lint  with  their  fair  hands.  Among  the  compa 
ny  was  Mr.  Slidell's  son,  who  had  just  travelled 
from  school  at  the  North,  under  a  feigned  name, 
in  order  to  escape  violence  at  the  hands  of  the 
Union  mobs  which  are  said  to  be  insulting  and 
outraging  every  Southern  man.  The  conversa 
tion,  as  is  the  case  in  most  Creole  domestic  cir- 


92 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


cles,  was  carried  on  in  French.  I  rarely  met  a 
man  whose  features  have  a  greater  finesse  and 
firmness  of  purpose  than  Mr.  SlidelFs ;  his  keen 
grey  eye  is  full  of  life,  his  thin,  firmly-set  lips 
indicate  resolution  and  passion.  Mr.  Slidell, 
though  born  in  a  Northern  state,  is  perhaps  one 
of  the  most  determined  disunionists  in  the  South 
ern  confederacy;  he  is  not  a  speaker  of  note,  j 
nor  a  ready  stump  orator,  nor  an  able  writer ;  ' 
but  he  is  an  excellent  judge  of  mankind,  adroit, 
persevering,  and  subtle,  full  of  device,  and  fond 
of  intrigue;  one  of  those  men  who,  unknown 
almost  to  the  outer  world,  organises  and  sustains 
a  faction,  and  exalts  it  into  the  position  of  a  par 
ty — what  is  called  here  a  "wire-puller."  Mr. 
Slidell  is  to  the  South  something  greater  than 
Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  has  been  to  his  party  in  the 
North.  He,  like  every  one  else,  is  convinced 
that  recognition  must  come  soon;  but,  under 
any  circumstances,  he  is  quite  satisfied  the  gov 
ernment  and  independence  of  the  Southern  con 
federacy  are  as  completely  established  as  those 
of  any  power  in  the  world.  Mr.  Slidell  and  the  I 
members  of  his  family  possess  naivete,  good  sense,  I 
and  agreeable  manners ;  and  the  regrets  I  heard  j 
expressed  in  Washington  society  at  their  absence 
had  every  justification. 

I  supped  at  the  club,  which  I  visited  every  day 
since  I  was  made  an  honorary  member,  as  all 
the  journals  are  there,  and  a  great  number  of 
planters  and  merchants,  well  acquainted  with 
the  state  of  affairs  in  the  South.  There  were 
two  Englishmen  present,  Mr.  Lingam  and  an 
other,  the 'most  determined  secessionists  and  the 
most  devoted  advocates  of  slavery  I  have  yet 
met  in  the  course  of  my  travels. 

May  26th. — The  heat  to-day  was  so  great  that 
I  felt  a  return  of  my  old  Indian  experiences,  and 
was  unable  to  go,  as  I  intended,  to  hear  a  very 
eminent  preacher  discourse  on  the  war  at  one 
of  the  principal  chapels. 

All  disposable  regiments  are  on  the  march  to 
Virginia.  It  was  bad  policy  for  Mr.  Jefferson 
Davis  to  menace  Washington  before  he  could  se 
riously  carry  out  his  threats,  because  the  North 
was  excited  by  the  speech  of  his  Secretary  at  War 
to  take  extraordinary  measures  for  the  defence 
of  their  capital ;  and  General  Scott  was  enabled 
by  their  enthusiasm  not  only  to  provide  for  its 
defence,  but  to  effect  a  lodgment  at  Alexandria, 
as  a  base  of  operations  against  the  enemy. 

When  the  Congress  at  Montgomery  adjourn 
ed,  the  other  day,  they  resolved  to  meet  on  the 
20th  of  July  at  Richmond,  which  thus  becomes 
the  capital  of  the  Confederacy.  The  city  is  not 
much  more  than  one  hundred  miles  south  of 
Washington,  with  which  it  was  in  communica 
tion  by  rail  and  river ;  and  the  selection  must 
cause  a  collision  between  the  two  armies  in  front 
of  the  rival  capitals.  The  seizure  of  the  Norfolk 
navy  yard  by  the  Confederates  rendered  it  nec 
essary  to  reinforce  Fortress  Monroe  ;  and  for  the 
present  the  Potomac  and  the  Chesapeake  are  out 
of  danger. 

The  military  precautions  taken  by  General 
Scott,  and  the  movements  attributed  to  him  to 
hold  Baltimore  and  to  maintain  his  communica 
tions  between  Washington  and  the  North,  afford 
evidence  of  judgment  and  military  skill.  The 
Northern  papers  are  clamouring  for  an  immedi 
ate  advance  of  their  raw  levies  to  Richmond, 
which  General  Scott  resists. 


In  one  respect  the  South  has  shown  greater 
sagacity  than  the  North.  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis 
having  seen  service  in  the  field,  and  having  been 
Secretary  of  War,  perceived  the  dangers  and  in 
efficiency  of  irregular  levies,  and  therefore  in 
duced  the  Montgomery  Congress  to  pass  a  bill 
which  binds  volunteers  to  serve  during  the  war, 
unless  sooner  discharged,  and  reserves  to  the 
President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  the  ap 
pointment  of  staff  and  field  officers,  the  right  of 
veto  to  battalion  officers  elected  by  each  com 
pany,  and  the  power  of  organising  companies  of 
volunteers  into  squadrons,  battalions,  and  regi 
ments.  Writing  to  the  Times  at  this  date,  I  ob 
served:  "Although  immense  levies  of  men  may 
be  got  together  for  purposes  of  local  defence  or 
aggressive  operations,  it  will  be  very  difficult  to 
move  these  masses  like  regular  armies.  There 
is  an  utter  want  of  field-trains,  equipage,  and 
commissariat,  which  cannot  be  made  good  in  a 
day,  a  week,  or  a  month.  The  absence  of  cav 
alry,  and  the  utter  deficiency  of  artillery,  may 
prevent  either  side  obtaining  any  decisive  result 
in  one  engagement ;  but  there,  can  be  no  doubt 
large  losses  will  be  incurred  whenever  these 
masses  of  men  are  fairly  opposed  to  each  other 
in  the  open  field." 

May  27th. — I  visited  several  of  the  local  com 
panies,  their  drill-grounds  and  parades ;  but  few 
of  the  men  were  present,  as  nearly  all  are  under 
orders  to  proceed  to  the  Camp  at  Tangipao  or  to 
march  to  Richmond.  Privates  and  officers  are 
busy  in  the  sweltering  streets  purchasing  neces 
saries  for  their  journey.  As  one  looks  at  the  res 
olute,  quick,  angry  faces  around  him,  and  hears 
but  the  single  theme,  he  must  feel  the  South  will 
never  yield  to  the  North,  unless  as  a  nation  which 
is  beaten  beneath  the  feet  of  a  victorious  enemy. 

In  every  state  there  is  only  one  voice  audible. 
Hereafter,  indeed,  state  jealousies  may  work  their 
own  way;  but  if  words  mean  anything,  all  the 
Southern  people  are  determined  to  resist  Mr. 
Lincoln's  invasion  as  long  as  they  have  a  man  or 
a  dollar.  Still,  there  are  certain  hard  facts  which 
militate  against  the  truth  of  their  own  assertions, 
"that  they  are  united  to  a  man,  and  prepared  to 
fight  to  a  man."  Only  15,000  are  under  arms 
out  of  the  50,000  men  in  the  state  of  Louisiana 
liable  to  military  service. 

"Charges  of  abolitionism"  appear  in  the  re 
ports  of  police  cases  in  the  papers  every  morn 
ing  ;  and  persons  found  guilty  not  of  expressing 
opinions  against  slavery,  but  of  stating  their  be 
lief  that  the  Northerners  will  be  successful,  are 
sent  to  prison  for  six  months.  The  accused  are 
generally  foreigners,  or  belong  to  the  lower  or 
ders,  who  have  got  no  interest  in  the  support  of 
slavery.  The  moral  suasion  of  the  lasso,  of  tar 
ring  and  feathering,  head-shaving,  ducking,  and 
horse -ponds,  deportation  on  rails,  and  similar 
ethical  processes,  are  highly  in  favor.  As  yet  the 
North  have  not  arrived  at  such  an  elevated  view 
of  the  necessities  of  their  position. 

The  New  Orleans  papers  are  facetious  over 
their  new  mode  of  securing  unanimity,  and  high 
ly  laud  what  they  call  "  the  course  of  instruction 
in  the  humane  institution  for  the  amelioration  of 
the  condition  of  northern  barbarians  and  aboli 
tion  fanatics,  presided  over  by  Professor  Henry 
Mitchell,"  who,  in  other  words,  is  the  jailer  of 
the  workhouse  reformatory. 

I  dined  at  the  Lake  with  Mr.  Mure,  General 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Lewis,  Major  Ranney,  Mr.  Duncan  Kenner  a 
Mississippi  planter,  Mr.  Claiborne,  &c.,  and  visit 
ed  the  club  in  the  evening.  Every  night  since  I 
have  been  in  New  Orleans  there  have  been  one 
or  two  fires ;  to-night  there  were  three — one  a 
tremendous  conflagration.  When  I  inquired  to 
what  they  were  attributable,  a  gentleman  who 
sat  near,  bent  over,  and  looking  me  straight  in 
the  face,  said,  in  a  low  voice,  "The  slaves." 
The  flues,  perhaps,  and  the  system  of  stoves,  may 
also  bear  some  of  the  blame.  There  is  great  en 
thusiasm  among  the  townspeople  in  consequence 
of  the  Washington  artillery,  a  crack  corps,  fur 
nished  by  the  first  people  in  New  Orleans,  being 
ordered  off  for  Virginia. 

May  28th. — On  dropping  in  at  the  Consulate 
to-day,  I  found  the  skippers  of  several  English 
vessels  who  are  anxious  to  clear  out,  lest  they  be 
detained  by  the  Federal  cruisers.  The  United 
States  steam  frigates  Brooklyn  and  Niagara  have 
been  for  some  days  past  blockading  Pass  a  1'outre. 
One  citizen  made  a  remarkable  proposition  to 
Mr.  Mure.  He  came  in  to  borrow  an  ensign  of 
the  Royal  Yacht  Squadron  for  the  purpose,  he 
said,  of  hoisting  it  on  board  his  yacht,  and  run 
ning  down  to  have  a  look  at  the  Yankee  ships^ 
Mr.  Mure  had  no  flag  to  lend ;  whereupon  he 
asked  for  a  description  by  which  he  could  get 
one  made.  On  being  applied  to,  I  asked  ' '  wheth 
er  the  gentleman  was  a  member  of  the  Squad 
ron?"  "Oh,  no,"  said  he,  "but  my  yacht  was 
built  in  England,  and  I  wrote  over  some  time 
ago  to  say  I  would  join  the  squadron."  I  ven 
tured  to  tell  him  that  it  by  no  means  followed  he 
was  a  member,  and  that  if  he  went  out  with  the 
flag  and  could  not  show  "by  his  papers  he  had  a 
right  to  carry  it,  the  yacht  would  be  seized.  How 
ever,  he  was  quite  satisfied  that  he  had  an  En 
glish  yacht,  and  a  right  to  hoist  an  English  flag, 
and  went  off  to  an  outfitter's  to  order  a  facsimile 
of  the  Squadi'on  ensign,  and  subsequently  cruised 
among  the  blockading  vessels. 

We  hear  Mr.  Ewell  was  attacked  by  an  Union 
mob  in  Tennessee,  his  luggage  was  broken  open  i 
and  plundered,  and  he  narrowly  escaped  personal 
injury.  Per  contra,  "charges  of  abolitionism" 
continue  to  multiply  here,  and  are  almost  as  nu 
merous  as  the  coroner's  inquests,  not  to  speak 
of  the  difficulties  which  sometimes  attain  the 
magnitude  of  murder. 

I  dined  with  a  large  party  at  the  Lake,  who 
had  invited  me  as  their  guest,  among  whom  were 
Mr.  Slidell,  Governor   Hebert,  Mr.  Hunt,  Mr. 
Norton,  Mr.  Fellows,  and  others.     I  observed  in  \ 
New  York  that  every  man  had  his  own  solution  j 
of  the  cause  of  the  present  difficulty,  and  contra-  j 
dieted  plumply  his  neighbor  the  moment  he  at-  ; 
tempted  to  propound  his  own  theory.     Here  I 
found  every  one  agi-eed  as  to  the  righteousness  | 
of  the  quarrel,  but  all  differed  as  to  the  best  mode  I 
of  action  for  the  South  to  pursue.    Nor  was  there  ! 
any  approach  to  unanimity  as  the  evening  waxed  | 
older.     Incidentally  we  had  wild  tales  of  South- 1 
ern  life,  some  good  songs,  curiously  intermingled  ; 
with  political  discussions,  and  what  the  North-  ! 
erns  call  hifalutin  talk. 

When  I  was  in  the  Consulate  to-day,  a  tall ' 
and  well-dressed,  but   not  very  prepossessing-  ' 
looking  man,  entered  to  speak  to  Mr.  Mure  on  I 
business,  and  was  introduced  to  me  at  his  own 
request.     His  name  was  mentioned  incidentally 
to-night,  and  I  heard  a  passage  in  his  life  not  of 


an  agreeable  character,  to  say  the  least  of  it.  A 
good  many  years  ago  there  was  a  ball  at  New 
Orleans,  at  which  this  gentleman  was  present ; 
he  paid  particular  attention  to  a  lady  wiio,  how 
ever,  preferred  the  society  of  one  of  the  com 
pany,  and  in  the  course  of  the  evening  an  alter 
cation  occurred  respecting  an  engagement  to 
dance,  in  which  violent  language  was  exchanged, 
and  a  push  or  blow  given  by  the  favoured  part 
ner  to  his  rival,  who  left  the  room,  and,  as  it  is 
stated,  proceeded  to  a  cutler's  shop,  where  he 
procured  a  powerful  dagger-knife.  Armed  with 
this,  he  returned,  and  sent  in  a  message  to  the 
gentleman  with  whom  he  had  quarrelled.  Sus 
pecting  nothing,  the  latter  came  into  the  ante 
chamber,  the  assassin  rushed  upon  him,  stabbed 
him  to  the  heart,  and  left  him  weltering  in  his 
blood.  Another  version  of  the  story  was,  that 
he  waited  for  his  victim  till  he  came  into  the 
cloak-room,  and  struck  him  as  he  was  in  the  act 
of  putting  on  his  overcoat.  After  a  long  delay, 
the  criminal  was  tried.  The  defence  put  forward 
on  his  behalf  was  that  he  had  seized  a  knife  in 
the  heat  of  the  moment  when  the  quarrel  took 
place,  and  had  slain  his  adversary  in  a  moment 
of  passion ;  but  evidence,  as  I  understand,  went 
strongly  to  prove  that  a  considerable  interval 
elapsed  between  the  time  of  the  dispute  and  the 
commission  of  the  murder.  The  prisoner  had 
the  assistance  of  able  and  ingenious  counsel ;  he 
was  acquitted.  His  acquittal  was  mainly  due  to 
the  judicious  disposition  of  a  large  sum  of  money ; 
each  juror,  when  he  retired  to  dinner  previous  to 
consulting  over  the  verdict,  was  enabled  to  find 
the  sum  of  1000  dollars  under  his  plate;  nor 
was  it  clear  that  the  judge  and  sheriff  had  not 
participated  in  the  bounty ;  in  fact,  I  heard  a 
dispute  as  to  the  exact  amount  which  it  is  sup 
posed  the  murderer  had  to  pay.  Jle  now  occu 
pies,  under  the  Confederate  Government,  the  post 
at.  New  Orleans  which  he  lately  held  as  represent 
ative  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

After  dinner  I  went  in  company  of  some  of 
my  hosts  to  the  Boston  Club,  which  has,  I  need 
not  say,  no  connection  with  the  city  of  that, 
name.  *  More  fires,  the  tocsin  sounding,  and  so 
to  bed. 

May  29th. — Dined  in  the  evening  with  M. 
Aristide  Milten-berger,  where  I  met  His  Ex 
cellency  Mr.  Moore,  the  Governor  of  Louisiana, 
his  military  secretary,  and  a  small  party. 

It  is  a  strange  country,  indeed ;  one  of  the 
evils  which  afflicts  the  Louisianians,  they  say,  ii 
the  preponderance  and  influence  of  South  Caro 
linian  Jews,  and  Jews  generally,  such  as  Moise, 
Mordecai,  Josephs,  and  Judah  Benjamin,  and 
others.  The  subtlety  and  keenness  of  the  Cau 
casian  intellect  give  men  a  high  place  among  a 
people  who  admire  ability  and  dexterity,  and 
are  at  the  same  time  reckless  of  means  and 
averse  to  labour.  The  Governor  is  supposed  to 
be  somewhat  under  the  influence  of  the  He 
brews,  but  he  is  a  man  quite  competent  to  think 
and  to  act  for  himself — a  plain,  sincere  ruler  of 
a  slave  state,  and  an  upholder  of  the  patriarchal 
institute.  After  dinner  we  accompanied  Mad 
ame  Milten-berger  (who  affords  in  her  own  per 
son  a  very  complete  refutation  of  the  dogma 
that  American  women  furnish  no  examples  of 
the  charms  which  surround  their  English  sisters 
in  the  transit  from  the  prime  of  life  toward  mid 
dle  age),  in  a  drive  along  the  shell  road  to  the 


94 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


lake  and  canal ;  the  most  remarkable  object  be 
ing  a  long  wall  lined  with  a  glorious  growth  of 
orange  trees:  clouds  of  musquitoes  effectually 
interfered  with  an  enjoyment  of  the  drive. 

May  SQth. — Wrote  .in  the  heat  of  the  day,  en 
livened  by  my  neighbour,  a  wonderful  mocking 
bird,  whose  songs  and  imitations  would  make 
his  fortune  in  any  society  capable  of  appreciat 
ing  native-born  genius.  His  restlessness,  cour 
age,  activity,  and  talent  ought  not  to  be  con 
fined  to  Mr.  Mure's  cage,  but  he  seems  content 
ed  and  happy.  I  dined  with  Madame  and  M. 
Milten-berger,  and  drove  out  with  them  to  visit 
the  scene  of  our  defeat  in  1815,  which  lies  at 
the  distance  of  some  miles  down  the  river. 

A  dilapidated  farmhouse  surrounded  by  trees 
and  negro  huts  marks  the  spot  where  Pakenham 
was  buried,  but  his  body  was  subsequently  ex 
humed  and  sent  home  to  England.  Close  to 
the  point  of  the  canal  which  constitutes  a  por 
tion  of  the  American  defences,  a  negro  guide 
came  forth  to  conduct  us  round  the  place,  but 
he  knew  as  little  as  most  guides  of  the  incidents 
of  the  fight.  The  most  remarkable  testimony 
to  the  severity  of  the  fire  to  which  the  British 
were  exposed,  is  afforded  by  the  trees  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  tomb.  In  one  live  oak 
there  are  no  less  than  eight  round  shot  embed 
ded,  others  contain  two  or  three,  and  many  are 
lopped,  rent,  and  scarred  by  the  flight  of  can 
non  ball.  The  American  lines  extended  nearly 
three  miles,  and  were  covered  in  the  front  by 
swamps,  marshes,  and  water-cuts ;  their  batteries 
and  the  vessels  in  the  river  enfiladed  the  British 
as  they  advanced  to  the  attack. 

Among  the  prominent  defenders  of  the  cot 
ton-bales  was  a  notorious  pirate  and  murderer 
named  Lafitte,  who  with  his  band  was  released 
from  prison  on  condition  that  he  enlisted  in  .the 
defence,  and  did  substantial  service  to  his  friends 
and  deliverers. 

Without  knowing  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  it  would  be  rash  now  to  condemn  the  offi 
cers  who  directed  the  assault ;  but  so  far  as  one 
could  judge  from  the  present  condition  of  the 
ground,  the  position  must  have  been  very  for 
midable,  and  should  not  have  been  assaulted  till 
the  enfilading  fire  was  subdued,  and  a  very  heavy 
covering  fire  directed  to  silence  the  guns  in  front. 
The  Americans  are  naturally  very  proud  of  their 
victory,  which  was  gained  at  a  most  trifling  loss 
to  themselves,  which  they  erroneously  conceive 
to  be  a  proof  of  their  gallantry  in  resisting  the 
assault.  It  is  one  of  the  events  which  have  cre 
ated  a  fixed  idea  in  their  minds  that  they  are 
able  to  "  whip  the  world." 

On  returning  from  my  visit  I  went  to  the  club, 
where  I  had  a  long  conversation  with  Dr.  Rush- 
ton,  who  is  strongly  convinced  of  the  impossi 
bility  of  carrying  on  government,  or  conducting 
municipal  affairs,  until  universal  suffrage  is  put 
down.  He  gave  many  instances  of  the  terror 
ism,  violence,  and  assassinations  which  prevail 
during  election-times  in  New  Orleans.  M.  Mil 
ten-berger,  on  the  contrary,  thinks  matters  are 
very  well  as  they  are,  and  declares  all  these  sto 
ries  are  fanciful :  Incendiarism  rife  again.  All 
the  club  windows  crowded  with  men  looking  at 
a  tremendous  fire,  which  burned  down  three  or 
four  stores  and  houses. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Carrying  arms— New  Orleans  jail— Desperate  characters- 
Executions — Female  maniacs  and  prisoners The  river 

and  levee — Climate  of  New  Orleans — Population Gen 
eral  distress — Pressure  of  the  blockade— Money Phi 
losophy  of  abstract  rights — The  doctrine  of  state  rights 
— Theoretical  defect  in  the  constitution. 
May  3lst. — I  went  with  Mr.  Mure  to  visit  the 
jail..  We  met  the  sheriff,  according  to  appoint 
ment,  at  the  police  court.  Something  like  a 
sheriff— a  great,  big,  burly,  six-foot  man,  with 
revolvers  stuck  in  his  belt,  and  strength  and 
arms  quite  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  execute 
his  office  in  its  highest  degree.  Speaking  of  the 
numerous  crimes  committed  in  New  Orleans,  he 
declared  it  was  a  perfect  hell  upon  earth,  and 
that  nothing  would  ever  put  an  end  to  murders, 
manslaughters,  and  deadly  assaults  till  it  was 
made  penal  to  carry  arms ;  but  by  law  every 
American  citizen  may  walk  with  an  armoury 
round  his  waist  if  he  likes.  Bar-rooms,  cock 
tails,  mint  juleps,  gambling-houses,  political  dis 
cussions,  and  imperfect  civilization  do  the  rest. 
The  jail  is  a  square  white-washed  building, 
with  cracked  walls  and  barred  windows.  In 
front  of  the  open  door  were  seated  four  men  on 
chairs,  with  their  legs  cocked  against  the  wall, 
Imoking  and  reading  newspapers.  '  •  Well,  what 
do  you  want?"  said  one  of  them,  without  rising. 
"To  visit  the  prison."  "Have  you  got  friends 
inside,  or  do  you  carry  an  order?"  The  neces 
sary  document  from  our  friend  the  sheriff  was 
produced.  We  entered  through  the  doorway, 
into  a  small  hall,  at  the  end  of  which  was  an 
iron  grating  and  door.  A  slightly-built  young 
man,  who  was  lolling  in  his  shirt  sleeves  on  a 
chair,  rose  and  examined  the  order,  and,  taking 
down  a  bunch  of  keys  from  a  hook,  and  intro 
ducing  himself  to  us  as  one  of  the  warders, 
opened  the  iron  door,  and  preceded  us  through 
a  small  passage  into  a  square  court-yard,  formed 
on  one  side  by  ja.  high  wall,  and  on  the  other 
three  by  windowed  walls  and  cells,  with  doors 
opening  on  the  court.  It  was  filled  with  a  crowd 
of  men  and  boys ;  some  walking  up  and  down, 
others  sitting,  and  groups  on  the  pavement ; 
some  moodily  apart,  smoking  or  chewing;  one 
or  two  cleaning  their  clothes  or  washing  at  a 
small  tank.  WTe  walked  into  the  "midst  of  them, 
and  the  warder,  smoking  his  cigar  and  looking 
coolly  about  him,  pointed  out  the  most  despe 
rate  criminals. 

This  crowded  and  most  noisome  place  was 

filled  with  felons  of  every  description,  as  well  as 

with  poor  wretches  merely  guilty  of  larceny. 

j  Hardened  murderers,  thieves,  and  assassins  were 

here  associated  with  boys  in  their  teens  who 

were  undergoing  imprisonment  for  some  trifling 

robbery.     It  was  not  pleasant  to  rub  elbows  with 

S  miscreants  who  lounged  past,  almost  smiling  de- 

;  fiance,  whilst  the  slim  warder,  in  his  straw  hat, 

shirt  sleeves,  and  drawers,  told  you  how  such  a 

;  fellow  had  murdered  his  mother,  how  another 

had  killed  a  policeman,  or  a  third  had  destroyed 

no  less  than  three  persons  in  a  few  moments. 

Here  were  seventy  murderers,  pirates,  burglars, 

violaters,  and  thieves   circulating   among  men 

who  had  been  proved  guilty  of  no  offence,  but 

were  merely  waiting  for  their  trial. 

A  verandah  ran  along  one  side  of  the  wall, 
above  a  row  of  small  cells,  containing  truckle- 
beds  for  the  inmates.  "  That's  a  desperate  cha.p, 
I  can  tell  you,"  said  the  warder,  pointing  to  a 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


95 


man  who,  naked  to  his  shirt,  was  sitting  on  the 
floor,  with  heavy  irons  on  his  legs,  which  they 
chafed  notwithstanding  the  bloody  rags  around 
them,  engaged  in  playing  cards  with  a  fellow- 
prisoner,  and  smoking  with  an  air  of  supreme 
contentment.  The  prisoner  turned  at  the  words, 
and  gave  a  kind  of  grunt  and  chuckle,  and  then 
played  his  next  card.  "That,"  said  the  war 
der,  in  the  proud  tone  of  a  menagerie  keeper 
exhibiting  his  fiercest  wild  beast,  "  is  a  real  des 
perate  character ;  his  name  is  Gordon  :  I  guess 
he  comes  from  your  country  ;  he  made  a  most 
miraculous  attempt  to  escape,  and  all  but  suc 
ceeded  ;  and  you  would  never  believe  me  if  I 
told  you  that  he  hooked  on  to  that  little  spout, 
climbed  up  the  angle  of  that  wall  there,  and 
managed  to  get  across  to  the  ledge  of  that  win 
dow1  over  the  outside  wall  before  he  was  discov 
ered."  And  indeed  it  did  require  the  corrobora 
tive  twinkle  in  the  fellow's  eye,  as  he  heard  of 
his  own  exploit,  to  make  me  believe  that  the  feat 
thus  indicated  could  be  performed  by  mortal  man. 

"  There's  where  we  hang  them,"  continued  he, 
pointing  to  a  small  black  door,  let  into  the  wall, 
about  18  feet  from  the  ground,  with  some  iron 
hooks  above  it.  "They  walk  out  on  the  door, 
which  is  shot  on  a  bolt,  and  when  the  rope  is 
round  their  necks  from  the  hook,  the  door's  let 
flop,  and  they  swing  over  the  court-yard."  The 
prisoners  are  shut  up  in  their  cells  during  the 
execution,  but  they  can  see  what  is  passing,  at 
least  those  who  get  good  places  at  the  windows. 
"Some  of  them,"  added  the  warder,  "do  die 
very  brave  indeed.  Some  of  them  abuse  as  you 
never  heard.  But  most  of  them  don't  seem  to 
like  it." 

Passing  from  the  yard,  we  proceeded  upstairs 
to  the  first  floor,  where  were  the  debtors'  rooms. 
These  were  tolerably  comfortable,  in  comparison 
to  the  wretched  cells  we  had  seen;  but  the  poorer 
debtors  were  crowded  together,  three  or  four  in 
a  room.  As  far  as  I  could  ascertain,  there  is  no 
insolvency  law,  but  the  debtor  is  free,  after  ninety 
days'  imprisonment,  if  his  board  and  lodging  be 
paid  for.  "And  what  if  they  are  not  ?"  "  Oh, 
well,  in  that  case  we  keep  them  till  all  is  paid, 
adding  of  course  for  every  day  they  are  kept." 

In  one  of  these  rooms,  sitting  on  his  bed,  look 
ing  wicked  and  gloomy,  and  with  a  glare  like 
that  of  a  wild  beast  in  his  eyes,  was  a  Doctor 
Withers,  who  a  few  days  ago  murdered  his  son- 
in-law  and  his  wife,  in  a  house  close  to  Mr.  Mure's. 
He  was  able  to  pay  for  this  privilege,  and  "as 
he  is  a  respectable  man, "said  the  warder,  "per 
haps  he  may  escape  the  worst." 

Turning  from  this  department  into  another 
gallery,  the  warder  went  to  an  iron  door,  above 
which  was  painted  a  death's  head  and  cross-bones, 
beneath  were  the  words  "condemned  cell." 

He  opened  the  door,  which  led  to  a  short,  nar 
row  covered  gallery,  one  side  of  which  looked 
into  a  court-yard,  admitting  light  into  two  small 
chambers,  in  which  were  pallets  of  straw  covered 
with  clean  counterpanes. 

Six  men  wei-e  walking  up  and  down  in  the 
passage.  In  the  first  room  there  was  a  table,  on 
which  were  placed  missals,  neatly  bound,  and 
very  clean  religious  books,  a  crucifix,  and  Agnus 
Dei.  The  whitewashed  wall  of  this  chamber  was 
covered  with  most  curions  drawings  in  charcoal 
or  black  chalk,  divided  into  compartments,  and 
representing  scenes  in  the  life  of  the  unhappy 


artist,  a  Frenchman,  executed  some  years  ago 
for  murdering  his  mistress,  depicting  his  tempta 
tions — his  gradual  fall  from  innocence — his  soci 
ety  with  abandoned  men  and  women — inter 
mingled  with  Scriptural  subjects,  Christ  walking 
on  the  waters,  and  holding  out  his  hand  to  the 
culprit — the  murderer's  corpse  in  the  grave — 
angels  visiting  and  lamenting  over  it; — finally, 
the  resurrection,  in  which  he  is  seen  ascending 
to  heaven ! 

My  attention  was  attracted  from  this  extraor 
dinary  room  to  an  open  gallery  at  the  other  side 
of  the  courtyard,  in  which  were  a  number  of 
women  with  dishevelled  hair  and  torn  clothes, 
some  walking  up  and  down  restlessly,  others 
screaming  loudly,  while  some  with  indecent  ges 
tures  were  yelling  to  the  wretched  men  opposite 
to  them,  as  they  were  engaged  in  their  misera 
ble  promenade. 

Shame  and  hoi-ror  to  a  Christian  land !  These 
women  were  maniacs  !  They  are  kept  here  until 
there  is  room  for  them  at  the  State  Lunatic 
Asylum.  Night  and  day  their  terrible  cries  and 
ravings  echo  through  the  dreary,  waking  hours 
and  the  fitful  slumbers  of  the  wretched  men  so 
soon  to  die. 

Two  of  those  who  walked  in  that  gallery  are 
to  die  to-morrow. 

What  a  mockery — the  crucifix  ! — the  Agnus 
Dei! — the  holy  books!  I  turned  with  sickness 
and  loathing  from  the  dreadful  place.  "But," 
said  the  keeper,  apologetically,  "there's not  one 
of  them  believes  he'll  be  hanged." 

******* 

We  next  visited  the  women's  gallery,  where 
female  criminals  of  all  classes  are  huddled  to 
gether  indiscriminately.  On  opening  the  door, 
the  stench  from  the  open  verandah,  in  which  the 
prisoners  were  sitting,  was  so  vile  that  I  could 
not  proceed  further-;  but  I  saw  enough  to  con 
vince  me  that  the  poor,  erring  woman  who  was 
put  in  there  for  some  trifling  offence,  and  placed 
in  contact  with  the  beings  who  were  uttering 
such  language  as  we  heard,  might  indeed  leave 
hope  behind  her. 

The  prisoners  have  no  beds  to  sleep  upon,  not 
even  a  blanket,  and  are  thrust  in  to  lie  as  they 
please,  five  in  each  small  cell.  It  mav  be  im 
agined  what  the  tropical  heat  produces  under 
such  conditions  as  these ,-  but  as  the  surgeon  was 
out,  I  could  obtain  no  information  respecting 
the  rates  of  sickness  or  mortality. 

I  next  proceeded  to  a  yard  somewhat  smaller 
than  that  appropriated  to  serious  offenders,  in 
which  were  confined  prisoners  condemned  for 
short  sentences,  for  such  offences  as  drunken 
ness,  assault,  and  the  like.  Among  the  prison 
ers  were  some  English  sailors,  confined  for  as 
saults  on  their  officers,  or  breach  of  articles ;  all 
of  whom  had  complaints  to  make  to  the  Consul, 
as  to  arbitrary  anvsts  and  unfounded  charges. 
Mr.  Mure  told  me  that  when  the  port  is  full  he 
is  constantly  engaged  inquiring  into  such  cases; 
and  I  am  sorry  to  learn  that  the  men  of  our 
commercial  marine  occasion  a  good  deal  of 
trouble  to  the  authorities. 

I  left  the  prison  in  no  very  charitable  mood 
towards  the  people  who  sanctioned  such  a  dis 
graceful  institution,  and  proceeded  to  complete 
my  tour  of  the  city. 

The  "Levee,"  which  is  an  enormous  embank 
ment  to  prevent  the  inundation  of  the  river,  is 


96 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


now  nearly  deserted  except  by  the  river  steam 
ers,  and  those  which  have  been  unable  to  run 
the  blockade.  As  New  Orleans  is  on  an  aver 
age  three  feet  below  the  level  of  the  river  at  high 
water,  this  work  requires  constant  supervision ; 
it  is  not  less  than  fifteen  feet  broad,  and  rises 
five  or  six  feet  above  the  level  of  the  adjacent 
street,  and  it  is  continued  in  an  almost  unbroken 
line  for  several  hundreds  of  miles  up  the  course 
of  the  Mississippi.  When  the  bank  gives  way, 
or  a  "crevasse,"  as  it  is  technically  called,  oc 
curs,  the  damage  done  to  the  plantations  has 
sometimes  to  be  calculated  by  millions  of  dollars. 
When  the  river  is  very  low  there  is  a  new  form 
of  danger,  in  what  is  called  the  "caving  in"  of 
the  bank,  which,  left  without  the  support  of  the 
water  pressure,  slides  into  the  bed  of  the  giant 
river. 

New  Orleans  is  called  the  "crescent  city"  in 
consequence  of  its  being  built  on  a  curve  of  the 
river,  which  is  here  about  the  breadth  of  the 
Thames  at  Gravesend,  and  of  great  depth.  Enor 
mous  cotton  presses  are  erected  near  the  banks, 
where  the  bales  are  compressed  by  machinery 
before  stowage  on  shipboard,  at  a  heavy  cost  to 
the  planter. 

The  custom-house,  the  city  hall,  and  the  Uni 
ted  States  mint,  are  fine  buildings,  of  rather  pre 
tentious  architecture.  The  former  is  the  largest 
building  in  the  States,  next  the  capitol.  I  was 
informed  that  on  the  levee,  now  almost  deserted, 
there  is  during  the  cotton  and  sugar  season  a 
scene  of  activity,  life,  and  noise,  the  like  of  which 
is  not  in  the  world.  Even  Canton  does  not  show 
so  many  boats  on  the  river,  not  to  speak  of  steam 
ers,  tugs,  flat-boats,  and  the  like ;  and  it  may  be 
easily  imagined  that  such  is  the  case,  when  we 
know  that  the  value  of  the  cotton  sent  in  the 
year  from  this  port  alone  exceeds  twenty  millions 
sterling,  and  that  the  other  exports  are  of  the 
value  of  at  least  fifteen  millions  sterling,  whilst 
the  imports  amount  to  nearly  four  millions. 

As  the  city  of  New  Orleans  is  nearly  1700 
miles  south  of  New  York,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  it  rejoices  in  a  semi-tropical  climate.  The 
squares  are  surrounded  with  lemon-trees,  orange- 
groves,  myrtle,  and  magnificent  magnolias.  Pal- 
mettoes  and  peach-trees  are  found  in  all  the  gar 
dens,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  are  enormous 
cypresses,  hung  round  with  the  everlasting  Span 
ish  moss. 

The  streets  of  the  extended  city  are  different 
in  character  from  the  narrow  chausse's  of  the  old 

town,  and  the  general  rectangular  arrangement  j  Powers  next  October.  They  have  among  them 
common  in  the  United  States,  Russia,  and  Brit-  j  men  who  refuse  to  pay  their  debts  to  Northern 
ish  Indian  cantonments  is  followed  as  much  as  |  houses,  but  they  deny  that  they  intend  to  repu- 
possible.  The  markets  are  excellent,  each  mu-  diate,  and  promise  to  pay  all  who  are  not  black 
nicipality,  or  grand  division,  being  provided  with  Republicans  when  the  war  is  over.  Repudia- 
its  own.  They  swarm  with  specimens  of  the  tion  is  a  word  out  of  favour,  as  they  feel  the 
composite  races  which  inhabit  the  city,  from  the  I  character  of  the  Southern  States  and  of  Mr. 
thorough-bred,  woolly-headed  negro,  Avho  is  sus-  Jefferson  Davis  himself  has  been  much  injured 
piciously  like  a  native-born  African,  to  the  Cre-  !  in  Europe  by  the  breach  of  honesty  and  honour 
ole  who  boasts  that  every  drop  of  blood  in  his  of  which  they  have  been  guilty ;  but  I  am  as 
sured  on  all  sides  that  every  State  will  eventual 
ly  redeem  all  its  obligations.  Meantime,  money 
here  is  fast  vanishing.  Bills  on  New  York  are 


able  citizen,  who  had  a  little  affair  of  his  own  on 
Sunday  morning. 

Mr.  Bibb  was  coming  from  market,  and  had 
secured  an  early  copy  of  a  morning  paper. 
Three  citizens,  anxious  for  news,  or,  as  Bibb 
avows,  for  his  watch  and  purse,  came  up  and  in 
sisted  that  he  should  read  the  paper  for  them. 
Bibb  declined,  whereupon  the  three  citizens,  in 
the  full  exercise  of  their  rights  as  a  majority, 
proceeded  to  coerce  him  ;  but  Bibb  had  a  casual 
revolver  in  his  pocket,  and  in  a  moment  he  shot 
one  of  his  literary  assailants  dead,  and  wounded 
the  two  others  severely,  if  not  mortally.  The 
paper  which  narrates  the  circumstances,  in  stat 
ing  that  the  successful  combatant  had  been  com 
mitted  to  prison,  adds,  "great  sympathy  is  felt 
for  Mr.  Bibb."  If  the  Southern  minority  is 
equally  successful  in  its  resistance  to  force  ina- 
jeurens  this  eminent  citizen,  the  fate  of  the  Con 
federacy  cannot  long  be  doubtful. 

June  1st. — The  respectable  people  of  the  city 
are  menaced  with  two  internal  evils  in  conse 
quence  of  the  destitution  caused  by  the  stoppage 
of  trade  with  the  North  and  with  Europe.  The 
municipal  authorities,  for  want  of  funds,  threat 
en  to  close  the  city  schools,  and  to  disband  the 
police  ;  at  the  same  time,  employers  refuse  to 
pay  their  workmen  on  the  ground  of  inability. 
The  British  Consulate  was  thronged  to-day  by 
Irish,  English,  and  Scotch,  entreating  to  be  sent 
North  or  to  Europe.  The  stories  told  by  some 
of  these  poor  fellows  were  most  pitiable,  and 
were  vouched  for  by  facts  and  papers ;  but  Mr. 
Mure  has  no  funds  at  his  disposal  to  enable  him 
to  comply  with  their  prayers.  Nothing  remains 
for  them*  but  to  enlist.  For  the  third  or  fourth 
time  I  heard  cases  of  British  subjects  being  for 
cibly  carried  off  to  fill  the  ranks  of  so-called  vol 
unteer  companies  and  regiments.  In  some  in 
stances  they  have  been  knocked  down,  bound, 
and  confined  in  barracks,  till  in  despair  they 
consented  to  serve.  Those  who  have  friends 
aware  of  their  condition  were  relieved  by  the  in 
terference  of  the  Consul ;  but  there  are  many, 
no  doubt,  thus  coerced  and  placed  in  involuntary 
servitude  without  his  knowledge.  Mr.  Mure  has 
acted  with  energy,  judgment,  and  success  on  these 
occasions ;  but  I  much  wish  he  could  have,  from 
national  sources,  assisted  the  many  distressed 
English  subjects  who  thronged  his  office. 

The  great  commercial  community  of  New  Or-' 
leans,  which  now  feels  the  pressure  of  the  block 
ade,  depends  on  the  interference  of  the  European 


veins  is  purely  French. 

I  Avas  struck  by  the  absence  of  any  whites  of 
the  labouring  classes ;  and  when  I  inquired  what 


had  become  of  the  men  who  work  on  the  levee 
and  at  the  cotton  presses  in  competition  with  the 
negroes,  I  was  told  that  they  had  been  enlisted 
for  the  war. 

I  forgot  to  mention  that  among  the  criminals 
in  the  prison  there  was  one  Mr.  Bibb,  a  respect- 


worth  nothing,  and  bills  on  England  are  at  18 
per  cent,  discount  from  the  par  value  of  gold ;  < 
but  the  people  of  this  city  will  endure  all  this  and 
much  more  to  escape  from  the  hated  rule  of  the  , 
Yankees. 

Through  the  present  gloom  come  the  rays  of 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


a  glorious  future,  which  shall  see  a  grand  slave 
confederacy  enclosing  the  Gulf  in  its  arms,  and 
swelling  to  the  shores  of  the  Potomac  and  Chesa 
peake,  with  the  entire  control  of  the  Mississippi 
and  a  monopoly  of  the  great  staples  on  which  so 
much  of  the  manufactures  and  commerce  of  Eng 
land  and  France  depend.  They  believe  them 
selves,  in  fact,  to  be  masters  of  the  destiny  of  the 
world.  Cotton  is  king — not  alone  king,  but  czar ; 
and  coupled  with  the  gratification  and  profit  to 
be  derived  from  this  mighty  agency,  they  look 
forward  with  intense  satisfaction  to  the  complete 
humiliation  of  their  hated  enemies  in  the  New 
England  States,  to  the  destruction  of  their  usu 
rious  rival  New  York,  and  to  the  impoverishment 
and  ruin  of  the  states  which  have  excited  their 
enmity  by  personal  liberty  bills,  and  have  out 
raged  and  insulted  them  by  harbouring  aboli 
tionists  and  an  anti-slavery  press. 

The  abolitionists  have  said,  "We  will  never 
rest  till  every  slave  is  free  in  the  United  States." 
Men  of  larger  views  than  those  have  declared, 
"  They  will  never  rest  from  agitation  until  a  man 
may  as  freely  express  his  opinions,  be  they  what 
they  'may,  on  slavery,  or  anything  else,  in  the 
streets  of  Charleston  or  of  New  Orleans  as  in 
those  of  Boston  or  New  York."  "Our  rights 
are  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,"  exclaim 
the  South.  "The  Constitution,"  retorts  Wen 
dell  Phillips,  "is  a  league  with  the  devil — a  cov 
enant  with  hell." 

The  doctrine  of  State  Rights  has  been  consist- 
ently  advocated  not  only  by  Southern  statesmen, 
but  by  the  great  party  who  have  ever  maintain 
ed  there  was  danger  to  liberty  in  the  establish 
ment  of  a  strong  central  Government ;  but  the 
contending  interests  and  opinions  on  both  sides 
had  hitherto  been  kept  from  open  collision  by 
artful  compromises  and  by  ingenious  contrivan 
ces,  which  ceased  with  the  election  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln. 

There  was  in  the  very  corner-stone  of  the  re 
publican  edifice  a  small  fissure,  which  has  been 
widening  as  the  grand  structure  increased  in 
height  and  weight.  The  early  statesmen  and 
authors  of  the  Republic  knew  of  its  existence, 
but  left  to  posterity  the  duty  of  dealing  with  it 
and  guarding  against  its  consequences.  Wash 
ington  himself  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  danger ; 
and  he  looked  forward  to  a  duration  of  some 
sixty  or  seventy  years  only  for  the  great  fabric 
he  contributed  to  erect.  He  was  satisfied  a  crisis 
must  come,  when  the  States  whom  in  his  fare 
well  address  he  warned  against  rivalry  and  fac 
tion  would  be  unable  to  overcome  the  animosi 
ties  excited  by  different  interests,  and  the  pas 
sions  arising  out  of  adverse  institutions ;  and 
now  that  the  separation  has  come,  there  is  not, 
in  the  Constitution,  or  out  of  it,  power  to  cement 
the  broken  fragments  together. 

It 'is  remarkable  that  in  New  Orleans,  as  in 
New  York,  the  opinion  of  the  most  wealthy  and 
intelligent  men  in  the  community,  so  far  as  I  can 
judge,  regards  universal  suffrage  as  organised 
confiscation,  legalised  violence  and  corruption,  a 
mortal  disease  in  the  body  politic.  The  other 
night,  as  I  sat  in  the  club-house,  I  heard  a  dis 
cussion  in  reference  to  the  operations  of  the 
Thugs  in  this  city,  a  band  of  native-born  Amer 
icans,  who  at  election-times  were  wont  deliberate 
ly  to  shoot  down  Irish  and  German  voters  occu 
pying  positions  as  leaders  of  their  mobs.  These 


Thugs  were  only  suppressed  by  an  armed  vigi 
lance  committee,  of  which  a  physician  who  sat 
at  table  was  one  of  the  members. 

Having  made  some  purchases,  and  paid  all 
my  visits,  I  returned  to  prepare  for  my  voyage 
up  the  Mississippi  and  visits  to  several  planters 
on  its  banks — my  first  being  to  Governor  Roman. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Up  the  Mississippi  — Free  negroes  and  English  policy  — 
Monotony  of  the  river  scenery  —  Visit  to  M.  Roman  — 
Slave  quarters— A  slave  dance— Slave  children— Negro 
hospital  —  General  opinion  —  Confidence  in  Jefferson 
Davis. 

June  2nd. — My  good  friend  the  Consul  was  up 
early  to  see  me  off;  and  we  drove  together  to 
the  steamer  J.  L.  Gotten.  The  people  were  go 
ing  to  mass  as  we  passed  through  the  streets ; 
and  it  was  pitiable  to  see  the  children  dressed 
out  as  Zouaves,  with  tin  swords  and  all  sorts  of 
pseudo-military  tomfoolery ;  streets  crowded  with 
military  companies  ;  bands  playing  on  all  sides. 

Before  we  left  the  door  a  poor  black  sailor 
came  up  to  entreat  Mr.  Mure's  interference.  He 
had  been  sent  by  Mr.  Magee,  the  Consul  at  Mo 
bile,  by  land  to  New  Orleans,  in  the  hope  that 
Mr.  Mure  would  be  able  to  procure  him  a  free 
passage  to  some  British  port.  He  had  served  in 
the  Royal  Navy,  and  had  received  a  wound  in  the 
Russian  war.  The  moment  he  arrived  in  New 
Orleans  he  had  been  seized  by  the  police.  On 
his  stating  that  he  was  a  free-born  British  sub 
ject,  the  authorities  ordered  him  to  be  taken  to 
Mr.  Mure ;  he  could  not  be  allowed  to  go  at  lib 
erty  on  account  of  his  colour ;  the  laws  of  the 
State  forbad  such  dangerous  experiments  on  the 
feelings  of  the  slave  population  ;  and  if  the  Con 
sul  did  not  provide  for  him,  he  would  be  arrest 
ed  and  kept  in  prison,  if  no  worse  fate  befell  him. 
He  was  suffering  from  the  effect  of  his  wound, 
and  was  evidently  in  ill  health.  Mr.  Mure  gave 
him  a  letter  to  the  Sailors'  Hospital,  and  some 
relief  out  of  his  own  pocket.  The  police  came 
as  far  as  the  door  with  him,  and  remained  out 
side  to  arrest  him  if  the  Consul  did  not  afford 
him  protection  and  provide  for  him,  so  that  he 
should  not  be  seen  at  large  in  the  streets  of  the 
city.  The  other  day  a  New  Orleans  privateer 
captured  three  northern  brigs,  on  board  which 
were  ten  free  negroes.  The  captain  handed 
them  over  to  the  Recorder,  who  applied  to  the 
Confederate  States'  Marshal  to  take  charge  of 
them.  The  Marshal  refused  to  receive  them, 
whereupon  the  Recorder,  as  a  magistrate  and  a 
good  citizen,  decided  on  keeping  them  in  jail,  as 
it  would  be  a  bad  and  dangerous  policy  to  let 
them  loose  upon  the  community. 

I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  position  taken 
by  England  in  reference  to  the  question  of  her 
coloured  subjects  is  humiliating  and  degrading. 
People  who  live  in  London  may  esteem  this  ques 
tion  a  light  matter ;  but  it  has  not  only  been  in 
consistent  with  the  national  honour ;  it  has  so 
degraded  us  in  the  opinion  of  Americans  them 
selves,  that  they  are  encouraged  to  indulge  in  an 
insolent  tone  and  in  violent  acts  towards  us, 
which  will  some  day  leave  Great  Britain  no  al 
ternative  but  an  appeal  to  arms.  Free  coloured 
persons  are  liable  to  seizure  by  the  police,  and 
to  imprisonment,  and  may  be  sold  into  servitude 
under  certain  circumstances. 


98 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


On  arriving  at  the  steamer  I  found  a  consid 
erable  party  of  citizens  assembled  to  see  off  their 
friends.  Governor  Roman's  son  apologised  to 
me  for  his  inability  to  accompany  me  up  the  riv 
er,  as  he  was  going  to  the  drill  of  his  company 
of  volunteers.  Several  other  gentlemen  were  in 
uniform;  and  when  we  had  passed  the  houses 
of  the  city,  I  observed  companies  and  troops  of 
horse  exercising  on  both  sides  of  the  banks.  On 
board  were  Mr.  Burnside,  a  very  extensive  pro 
prietor,  and  Mr.  Forstal,  agent  to  Messrs.  Bar 
ing,  who  claims  descent  from  an  Irish  family 
near  Rochestown,  though  he  speaks  our  vernac 
ular  with  difficulty,  and  is  much  more  French 
than  British.  He  is  considered  one  of  the  ablest 
financiers  and  economists  in  the  United  States, 
and  is  certainly  very  ingenious,  and  well  cram 
med  with  facts  and  figures. 

The  aspect  of  New  Orleans  from  the  river  is 
marred  by  the  verv  poor  houses  lining  the  quays 
on  the  levee.  Wide  streets  open  on  long  vistas 
bordered  by  the  most  paltry  little  domiciles  ; 
and  thu  great  conceptions  of  those  who  planned 
them,  notwithstanding  the  prosperity  of  the  city, 
have  not  been  realised. 

As  we  were  now  floating  nine  feet  higher  than 
the  level  of  the  streets,  we  could  look  down  upon 
a  sea  of  flat  roofs  and  low  wooden  houses,  paint 
ed  white,  pierced  by  the  domes  and  spires  of 
churches  and  public  buildings.  Grass  was  grow 
ing  in  many  of  these  streets.  At  the  other  side 
of  the  river  there  is  a  smaller  city  of  shingle- 
roofed  houses,  with  a  background  of  low  timber. 
The  steamer  stopped  continually  at  various 
points  along  the  levee,  discharging  commissariat 
stores,  parcels,  and  passengers ;  and  after  a  time 
glided  up  into  the  open  country,  which  spread 
beneath  us  for  several  miles  at  each  side  of  the 
banks,  with  a  continuous  background  of  forest. 
All  this  part  of  the  river  is  called  the  Coast,  and 
the  country  adjacent  is  remarkable  for  its  fertil 
ity.  The  sugar  plantations  are  bounded  by  lines 
drawn  at  right  angles  to  the  banks  of  the  river, 
and  extending  through  the  forest.  The  villas 
of  the  proprietors  are  thickly  planted  in  the 
midst  of  the  green  fields,  with  the  usual  porti 
coes,  pillars,  verandahs,  and  green  blinds ;  and 
in  the  vicinity  of  each  are  rows  of  whitewashed 
huts,  which  are  the  slave  quarters.  These  fields, 
level  as  a  billiard-table,  are  of  the  brightest  green 
with  crops  of  maize  and  sugar. 

But  few  persons  were  visible ;  not  a  boat  was 
to  be  seen ;  and  in  the  course  of  sixty-two  miles 
we  met  only  two  steamers.  No  shelving  banks, 
no  pebbly  shoals,  no  rocky  margins  mark  the 
course  or"  diversify  the  outline  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  dead,  uniform  line  of  the  levee  compresses 
it  at  each  side,  and  the  turbid  waters  flow  with 
out  let  in  a  current  of  uniform  breadth  between 
the  monotonous  banks.  The  gables  and  summit 
of  one  house  resemble  those  of  another ;  and  but 
for  the  enormous  scale  of  river  and  banks,  and 
the  black  faces  of  the  few  negroes  visible,  a  pas 
senger  might  think  he  was  on  board  a  Dutch 
"  treckshuyt."  In  fact,  the  Mississippi  is  a  huge 
trench-like  canal  draining  a  continent. 

At  half-past  three  P.M.  the  steamer  ran  along 
side  the  levee  at  the  right  bank,  and  discharged 
me  at  "Cahabanooze,"m  the  Indian  tongue,  or 
"The  ducks'  sleeping-place,"  together  with  an 
English  merchant  of  New  Orleans,  M.  La  Ville 
Beaufevre,  son-in-law  of  Governor  Roman,  and 


liis  wife.  The  Governor  was  waiting  to  receive 
us  in  the  levee,  and  led  the  way  through  a  gate 
in  the  paling  which  separated  his  ground  from 
the  roadside,  towards  the  house,  a  substantial, 
square,  two-storied  mansion,  with  a  verandah  all 
round  it,  embosomed  amid  venerable  trees,  and 
surrounded  by  magnolias.  By  way  of  explain 
ing  the  proximity  of  his  house  to  the  river,  M. 
Roman  told  me  that  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  garden  in  front  had  a  short  time  ago  been 
carried  off"  by  the  Mississippi ;  nor  is  he  at  all 
sure  the  house  itself  will  not  share  the  same 
fate ;  I  hope  sincerely  it  may  not.  My  quarters 
were  in  a  detached  house,  complete  in  itself, 
containing  four  bedrooms,  library,  and  sitting- 
room,  close  to  the  mansion,  and  surrounded,  like 
it,  by  fine  trees. 

After  we  had  sat  for  some  time  in  the  shade 
of  the  finest  group,  M.  Roman,  or,  as  he  is  call 
ed,  the  Governor — once  a  captain  always  a  cap 
tain — asked  me  whether  I  would  like  to  visit  the 
slave  quarters.  I  assented,  and  the  Governor 
led  the  way  to  a  high  paling  at  the  back  of  the 
house,  inside  which  the  scraping  of  the  fiddles 
was  audible.  As  we  passed  the  back  of  the  man 
sion  some  young  women  flitted  past  in  snow- 
white  dresses,  crinolines,  pink  sashes,  and  gau 
dily  coloured  handkerchiefs  on  their  heads,  who 
were,  the  Governor  told  me,  the  domestic  serv 
ants  going  off  to  a  dance  at  the  sugar-house  ;  ho 
lets  his  slaves  dance  every  Sunday.  The  Amer 
ican  planters  who  are  not  Catholics,  although 
they  do  not  make  the  slaves  work  on  Sunday  ex 
cept  there  is  something  to  do,  rarely  grant  them 
the  indulgence  of  a  dance,  but  a  few  permit 
them  some  hours  of  relaxation  on  each  Saturday 
afternoon. 

We  entered,  by  a  wicket  gate,  a  square  en 
closure,  lined  with  negro  huts,  built  of  wood, 
something  like  those  which  came  from  Malta  to 
the  Crimea  in  the  early  part  of  the  campaign. 
They  are  not  furnished  with  windows — a  wood 
en  slide  or  grating  admits  all  the  air  a  negro  de 
sires.  There  is  a  partition  dividing  the  hut  into 
two  departments,  one  of  which  is  used  as  the 
sleeping-room,  and  contains  a  truckle  bedstead 
and  a  mattress  stuffed  with  cotton  wool,  or  the 
hair -like  fibres  of  dried  Spanish  moss.  The 
wardrobes  of  the  inmates  hang  from  nails  or 
pegs  driven  into  the  wall.  The  other  room  is 
furnished  with  a  dresser,  on  which  are  arranged 
a  few  articles  of  crockery  and  kitchen  utensils. 
Sometimes  there  is  a  table  in  addition  to  the 
plain  wooden  chairs,  more  or  less  dilapidated, 
constituting  the  furniture — a  hearth,  in  connec 
tion  with  a  brick  chimney  outside  the  cottage,  in 
which,  hot  as  the  day  may  be,  some  embers  are 
sure  to  be  found  burning.  The  ground  round 
the  huts  was  covered  with  litter  and  dust,  heaps 
of  old  shoes,  fragments  of  clothing  and  feathers, 
amidst  which  pigs  and  poultry  were  recreating. 
Curs  of  low  degree  scampered  in  and  out  of  the 
shade,  or  around  two  huge  dogs,  chiens  de  garde, 
which  are  let  loose  at  night  to  guard  the,  pre 
cincts;  belly  deep,  in  a  pool  of  stagnant  water, 
thirty  or  forty  mules  were  swinking  in  the  sun 
and  enjoying  their  day  of  rest. 

The  huts  of  the  negroes  engaged  in  the  house 
are  separated  from  those  of  the  slaves  devoted  to 
field-labour  out  of  doors  by  a  wooden  paling.  I 
looked  into  several  of  the  houses,  but  somehow 
or  other  I  felt  a  repugnance,  I  dare  say  unjusti- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


99 


fiable,  to  examine  the  penetralia,  although  in 
vited—indeed,  urged  to  do  so  by  the  Governor. 
It  was  not  that  I  expected  to  come  upon  any 
thing  dreadful,  but  I  could  not  divest  myself  of 
some  regard  for  the  feelings  of  the  poor  crea 
tures,  slaves  though  they  were,  who  stood  by, 
shy,  curtseying,  and  silent,  as  I  broke  in  upon 
their  family  circle,  felt  their  beds,  and  turned 
over  their  clothing.  What  right  had  I  to  do  so  ? 

Swarms  of  flies,  tin  cooking  utensils  attracting 
them  by  remnants  of  molasses,  crockery,  broken 
and  old,  on  the  dressers,  more  or  less  old  clothes 
on  the  wall,  these  varied  over  and  over  again, 
were  found  in  all  the  huts ;  not  a  sign  of  orna 
ment  or  decoration  was  visible  ;  not  the  most 
tawdry  print,  image  of  Virgin  or  Saviour ;  not  a 
prayerbook  or  printed  volume.  The  slaves  are 
not  encouraged,  or  indeed  permitted  to  read,  and 
some  communities  of  slave-owners  punish  heav 
ily  those  attempting  to  instruct  them. 

All  the  slaves  seemed  respectful  to  their  mas 
ter  ;  dressed  in  their  best,  they  curtseyed,  and 
came  up  to  shake  hands  with  him  and  with  me. 
Among  them  were  some  very  old  men  and  wom 
en,  the  canker-worms  of  the  estate,  who  were 
dozing  away  into  eternity,  mindful  only  of  hom 
iny,  and  pig,  and  molasses.  Two  negro  fiddlers 
were  working  their  bows  with  energy  in  front  of 
one  of  the  huts,  and  a  crowd  of  little  children 
were  listening  to  the  music,  together  with  a  few 
grown-up  persons  of  colour,  some  of  them  from 
the  adjoining  plantations.  The  children  are  gen 
erally  dressed  in  a  little  sack  of  coarse  calico, 
which  answers  all  reasonable  purposes,  even  if  it 
be  not  very  clean. 

It  might  be  an  interesting  subject  of  inquiry 
to  the  natural  philqaophers  who  follow  crinology 
to  determine  why  it  is  that  the  hair  of  the  infant 
negro,  or  child,  up  to  six  or  seven  years  of  age, 
is  generally  a  fine  red  russet,  or  even  gamboge 
colour,  and  gradually  darkens  into  dull  ebon. 
These  little  bodies  were  mostly  large-stomached, 
well  fed,  and  not  less  happy  than  freeborn  chil 
dren,  although  much  more  valuable — for  if  once 
they  get  over  juvenile  dangers,  and  advance  to 
ward  nine  or  ten  years  of  age,  they  rise  in  value 
to  £100  or  more,  even  in  times  when  the  market 
is  low  and  money  is  scarce. 

The  women  were  not  very  well-favoured ;  one 
yellow  girl,  with  fair  hair  and  light  eyes,  whose 
child  was  quite  white,  excepted ;  the  men  were 
disguised  in  such  strangely  -  cut  clothes,  their 
hats,  and  shoes,  and  coats  so  wonderfully  made, 
that  one  could  not  tell  what  their  figures  were 
like.  On  all  faces  there  was  a  gravity  which 
must  be  the  index  to  serene  contentment  and 
/  perfect  comfort,  for  those  who  ought  to  know 
best  declare  they  are  the  happiest  race  in  the 
world. 

It  struck  me  more  and  more,  however,  as  I  ex- 
.  amined  the  expression  of  the  faces  of  the  slaves, 
that  deep  dejection  is  the  prevailing,  if  not  uni 
versal,  characteristic  of  the  race.  Here  there 
were  abundant  evidences  that  they  were  all  well 
treated  ;  they  had  good  clothing  of  its  kind,  food, 
and  a  master  who  wittingly  could  do  them  no 
injustice,  as  he  is,  I  am-  sure,  incapable  of  it. 
Still,  they  all  looked  sad,  and  even  the  old  wo 
man  who  boasted  that  she  had  held  her  old  own 
er  in  her  arms  when  he  was  an  infant,  did  not 
smile  cheerfully,  as  the  nurse  at  home  would 
have  done  at  the  sight  of  her  ancient  charge. 


The  negroes  rear  domestic  birds  of  a\l  kinds, 
and  sell  eggs  and  poultry  to  their  masters.  The 
money  is  spent  in  purchasing  tobacco,  molasses, 
clothes,  and  flour ;  whisky,  their  great  delight, 
they  must  not  have.  Some  seventy  or  eighty 
hands  were  quartered  in  this  part  of  the  estate. 

Before  leaving  the  enclosure  I  was  taken  to 
the  hospital,  which  was  in  charge  of  an  old  ne- 
gress.  The  naked  rooms  contained  several  flock 
beds  on  rough  stands,  and  five  patients,  three  of 
whom  were  women.  They  sat  listlessly  on  the 
beds,  looking  out  into  space  ;  no  books  to  amuse 
them,  no  conversation — nothing  but  their  own 
dull  thoughts,  if  they  had  any.  They  were  suf 
fering  from  pneumonia  and  swelling  of  the  glands 
of  the  neck :  one  man  had  fever.  Their  medical 
attendant  visits  them  regularly,  and  each  planta 
tion  has  a  practitioner,  who  is  engaged  by  the 
term  for  his  services.  If  the  growth  of  sugar 
cane,  cotton,  and  corn  be  the  great  end  of  man's 
mission  on  earth,  and  if  all  masters  were  like 
Governor  Roman,  slavery  might  be  defended  as 
a  natural  and  innocuous  institution.  Sugar  and 
cotton  are,  assuredly,  two  great  agencies  in  this 
latter  world.  The  older  one  got  on  well  enough 
without  them. 

The  scraping  of  the  fiddles  attracted  us  to  the 
sugar-house,  where  the  juice  of  the  cane  is  ex 
pressed,  boiled,  granulated,  and  prepared  for  the 
refinery,  a  large  brick  building,  with  a  factory- 
looking  chimney.  In  a  space  of  the  floor  un 
occupied  by  machinery  some  fifteen  women  and 
as  many  men  were  assembled,  and  four  couples 
were  dancing  a  kind  of  Irish  jig  to  the  music  of 
the  negro  musicians — a  double  shuffle  in  a  thump 
ing  ecstasy,  with  loose  elbows,  pendulous  paws, 
angulated  knees,  heads  thrown  back,  and  backs 
arched  inwards — a  glazed  eye,  intense  solemnity 
of  mien. 

At  this  time  of  year  there  is  no  work  done 
in  the  sugar-house,  but  when  the  crushing  and 
boiling  are  going  on  the  labour  is  intensely  try 
ing,  and  the  hands  work  in  gangs  night  and 
day;  and,  if  the  heat  of  the  fires  be  superadded 
to  the  temperature  in  September,  it  may  be  con 
ceded  that  nothing  but  "involuntary  servitude" 
could  go  through  the  toil  and  suffering  required 
to  produce  sugar. 

In  the  afternoon  the  Governor's  son  came  in 
from  the  company  which  he  commands:  his 
men  are  of  the  best  families  in  the  country — 
planters  and  the  like.  We  sauntered  about  the 
gardens,  diminished,  as  I  have  said,  by  a  freak 
of  the  river.  The  French  Creoles  love  gardens  ; 
the  Anglo-Saxons  hereabout  do  not  much  affect 
them,  and  cultivate  their  crops  up  to  the  very 
doorway. 

It  was  curious  to  observe  so  far  away  from 
France  so  many  traces  of  the  life  of  the  old  seign 
eur — the  early  meals,  in  which  supper  took  the 
place  of  dinner — frugal  simplicity — and  yet  a  re 
finement  of  manner,  kindliness,  and  courtesy  not 
to  be  exceeded. 

In  the  evening  several  officers  of  M.  Alfred 
Roman's  company  and  neighbouring  planters 
dropped  in,  and  we  sat  out  in  the  twilight,  under 
the  trees  in  the  verandah,  illuminated  by  the 
flashing  fireflies,  and  talking  politics.  I  was 
struck  by  the  profound  silence  which  reigned  all 
around  us,  except  a  low  rushing  sound,  like  that 
made  by  the  wind  blowing  over  cornfields,  which 
came  from  the  mighty  river  before  us.  Nothing 


100 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


else  was  audible  but  the  sound  of  our  own  voices 
and  the  distant  bark  of  a  dog.  After  the  steam 
er  which  bore  us  had  passed  on,  I  do  not  believe 
a  single  boat  floated  up  or  down  the  stream,  and 
but  one  solitary  planter,  in  his  gig  or  buggy, 
traversed  the  road,  which  lay  between  the  gar 
den  palings  and  the  bank  of  the  great  river. 

Our  friends  were  all  Creoles — that  is,  natives 
of  Louisiana  —  of  French  or  Spanish  descent. 
They  are  kinder  and  better  masters,  according 
to  universal  repute,  than  native  Americans  or 
Scotch ;  but  the  New  England  Yankee  is  reputed 
to  be  the  severest  of  all  slave-owners.  All  these 
gentlemen  to  a  man  are  resolute  that  England 
must  get  their  cotton  or  perish.  She  will  take 
it,  therefore,  by  force ;  but  as  the  South  is  de 
termined  never  to  let  a  Yankee  vessel  cany  any 
of  its  produce,  a  question  has  been  raised  by 
Monsieur  Baroche,  who  is  at  present  looking 
around  him  in  New  Orleans,  which  causes  some 
difficulty  to  the  astute  and  statistical  Mr.  For- 
stall.  The  French  economist  has  calculated  that 
if  the  Yankee  vessels  be  excluded  from  the  car 
rying  trade,  the  commercial  marine  of  France 
and  England  together  will  be  quite  inadequate 
to  carry  Southern  produce  to  Europe.  <_ 

But  Southern  faith  is  indomitable.  With  their 
faithful  negroes  to  raise  their  corn,  sugar,  and 
cotton,  whilst  their  young  men  are  at  the  wars ; 
with  France  and  England  to  pour  gold  into  their 
lap  with  which  to  purchase  all  they  need  in  the 
contest,  they  believe  they  can  beat  all  the  pow 
ers  of  the  Northern  world  in  arms.  Illimitable 
fields,  tilled  by  multitudinous  negroes,  open  on 
their  sight,  and  they  behold  the  empires  of  Eu 
rope,  with  their  manufactures,  their  industry,  and 
their  wealth,  prostrate  at  the  base  of  their  throne, 
crying  out,  "Cotton !  More  cotton !  That  is  all 
we  ask !" 

Mr.  Forstall  maintains  the  South  can  raise  an 
enormous  revenue  by  a  small  direct  taxation ; 
whilst  the  North,  deprived  of  Southern  resources, 
will  refuse  to  pay  taxes  at  all,  and  will  accumu 
late  enormous  debts,  inevitably  leading  to  its 
financial  ruin.  He,  like  every  Southern  man  I 
have  as  yet  met,  expresses  unbounded  confidence 
in  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis.  I  am  asked  invariably, 
as  the  second  question  from  a  stranger,  "Have 
you  seen  our  President,  sir?  don't  you  think 
him  a  very  able  man?"  This  unanimity  in  the 
estimate  of  his  character,  and  universal  confi 
dence  in  the  head  of  the  State,  will  prove  of  in 
calculable  value  in  a  civil  war. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Ride  through  the  maize-fields — Sugar  plantation ;  negroes 
at  work — Use  of  the  lash — Feeling  towards  France — Si 
lence  of  the  country — Negroes  and  dogs — Theory  of 
slavery — Physical  formation  of  the  negro — The  defence 
of  slavery — The  masses  for  negro  souls — Convent  of  the 
Sacre  Coaur— Ferry  house— A  large  landowner. 

June  3rd. — At  five  o'clock  this  morning,  hav 
ing  been  awakened  an  hour  earlier  by  a  wonder 
ful  chorus  of  riotous  mocking-birds,  my  old  ne 
gro  attendant  brought  in  my  bath  of  Mississippi 
water,  which,  Nile  like,  casts  down  a  strong  de 
posit,  and  becomes  as  clear,  if  not  so  sweet,  after 
standing.  "  Le  seigneur  vous  attend  ;"  and  al 
ready  I  saw,  outside  my  window,  the  Governor 
mounted  on  a  stout  cob,  and  a  nice  chestnut 
horse  waiting,  led  by  a  slave.  Early  as  it  was, 


the  sun  felt  excessively  hot,  and  I  envied  the 
Governor  his  slouched  hat  as  we  rode  through 
the  fields,  crisp  with  dew.  In  a  few  minutes 
our  horses  were  traversing  narrow  alleys  be 
tween  the  tall  fields  of  maize,  which  rose  far 
above  our  heads.  This  corn,  as  it  is  called,  is 
the  principal  food  of  the  negroes;  and  every 
planter  lays  down  a  sufficient  quantity  to  afford 
him,  on  an  average,  a  supply  all  the  year  round. 
Outside  this  spread  vast  fields,  hedgeless,  wall- 
less,  and  unfenced,  where  the  green  cane  was 
just  learning  to  wave  its  long  shoots  in  the  wind 
— a  lake  of  bright  green  sugar-sprouts,  along 
the  margin  of  which,  in  the  distance,  rose  an  un 
broken  boundary  of  forest,  two  miles  in  depth, 
up  to  the  swampy  morass,  all  to  be  cleared  and 
turned  into  arable  land  in  process  of  time. 
From  the  river  front  to  this  forest,  the  fields  of 
rich  loam,  unfathomable,  and  yielding  from  one 
to  one  and  a  half  hogsheads  of  sugar  per  acre 
under  cultivation,  extend  for  a  mile  and  a  half 
in  depth.  In  the  midst  of  this  expanse  white 
dots  were  visible  like  Sowars  seen  on  the  early 
march,  in  Indian  fields,  many  a  time  and  oft. 
Those  are  the  gangs  of  hands  at  work — we  will 
see  what  they  are  at  presently.  This  little  remi 
niscence  of  Indian  life  was  further  heightened 
by  the  negroes  who  ran  beside  us  to  whisk  flies 
from  the  horses,  and  to  open  the  gates  in  the 
plantation  boundary.  When  the  Indian  corn  is 
not  good,  peas  are  sowed,  alternately,  between 
the  stalks,  and  are  considered  to  be  of  much  ben 
efit  ;  and  when  the  cane  is  bad,  corn  is  sowed 
with  it,  for  the  same  object.  Before  we  came 
up  to  the  gangs  we  passed  a  cart  on  the  road 
containing  a  large  cask,  a  bucket  full  of  molas 
ses,  a  pail  of  hominy,  or  boi^d  Indian  corn,  and 
a  quantity  of  tin  pannikins.  The  cask  contain 
ed  water  for  the  negroes,  and  the  other  vessels 
held  the  materials  for  their  breakfast ;  in  addi 
tion  to  which,  they  generally  have  each  a  dried 
fish.  The  food  was  ample,  and  looked  whole 
some  ;  such  as  any  labouring  man  would  be  well 
content  with.  Passing  along  through  maize  on 
one  side,  and  cane  at  another,  we  arrived  at  last 
at  a  patch  of  ground  where  thirty-six  men  and 
women  were  hoeing. 

Three  gangs  of  negroes  were  at  work :  one 
gang  of  men,  with  twenty  mules  and  ploughs, 
was  engaged  in  running  through  the  furrows 
between  the  canes,  cutting  up  the  weeds  and 
clearing  away  the  grass,  which  is  the  enemy  of 
the  growing  shoot.  The  mules  are  of  a  fine, 
large,  good-tempered  kind,  and  understand  their 
work  almost  as  well  as  the  drivers,  who  are  usu 
ally  the  more  intelligent  hands  on  the  planta 
tion.  The  overseer,  a  sharp-looking  Creole,  on 
a  lanky  pony,  whip  in  hand,  superintended  their 
labours,  and,  after  a  salutation  to  the  Governor, 
to  whom  he  made  some  remarks  on  the  condi 
tion  of  the  crops,  rode  off  to  another  part  of  the 
farm.  With  the  exception  of  crying  to  their 
mules,  the  negroes  kept  silence  at  their  work. 

Another  gang  consisted  of  forty  men,  who 
were  hoeing  out  the  grass  in  Indian  corn.  The 
third  gang,  of  thirty-six  women,  were  engaged 
in  hoeing  out  cane.  Their  clothing  seemed 
heavy  for  the  climate ;  their  shoes,  ponderous 
and  ill-made,  had  worn  away  the  feet  of  their 
thick  stockings,  which  hung  in  fringes  over  the 
upper  leathers.  Coarse  straw  hats  and  bright 
cotton  handkerchiefs  protected  their  heads  from 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


101 


the  sun.  The  silence  which  I  have  already  al 
luded  to  prevailed  among  these  gangs  also— not 
a  sound  could  be  heard  but  the  blows  of  the  hoe 
on  the  heavy  clods.  In  the  rear  of  each  gang 
stood  a  black  overseer,  with  a  heavy  -  thonged 
whip  over  his  shoulder,  if  "Alcibiade"  or 
"PompeV'were  called  out,  he  came  with  out 
stretched  hand  to  ask  "How  do  you  do,"  and 
then  returned  to  his  labour  ;  but  the  ladies  were 
coy,  and  scarcely  looked  up  from  under  their 
flapping  chapeaux  de  paille  at  their  visitors. 

Those  who  are  mothers  leave  their  children  in 
the  charge  of  certain  old  women,  unfit  for  any 
thing  else,  and  "  suckers,"  as  they  are  called,  are 
permitted  to  go  home,  at  appointed  periods  in 
the  day,  to  give  the  infants  the  breast.  The 
overseers  have  power  to  give  ten  lashes ;  but 
heavier  punishment  ought  to  be  reported  to  the 
Governor ;  however,  it  is  not  likely  a  good  over 
seer  would  be  checked,  in  any  way,  by  his  mas 
ter.  The  anxieties  attending  the' cultivation  of 
sugar  are  great,  and  so  much  depends  upon  the 
judicious  employment  of  labour,  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  experi 
ence  in  directing  it,  and  of  power  to  insist  on  its 
application.  When  the  frost  comes,  the  cane  is 
rendered  worthless — one  touch  destroys  the  sug 
ar.  But  if  frost  is  the  enemy  of  the  white  plant 
er,  the  sun  is  scarcely  the  friend  of  the  black 
Kman.  The  sun  condemns  him  to  slavery,  be 
cause  it  is  the  heat  which  is  the  barrier  to  the 
white  man's  labour.  The  Governor  told  me 
that,  in  August,  when  the  crops  are  close,  thick 
set,  and  high,  and  the  vertical  sun  beats  down 
on  tbe  labourers,  nothing  but  a  black  skin  and 
head  covered  with  wool  can  enable  a  man  to 
walk  out  in  the  open  and  live. 

We  returned  to  the  house  in  time  for  breakfast, 
for  which  our  early  cup  of  coffee  and  biscuit  and 
the  ride  had  been  good  preparation.  Here  was 
old  France  again.  One  might  imagine  a  lord 
of  the  seventeenth  century  in  his  hall,  but  for 
the  black  faces  of  the  servitors  and  the  strange 
dishes  of  tropical  origin.  There  was  the  old 
French  abundance,  the  numerous  dishes  and  ef 
florescence  of  napkins,  and  the  long-necked  bot 
tles  of  Bordeaux,  with  a  steady  current  of  pleas 
ant  small  talk.  I  saw  some  numbers  of  a  paper 
called  La  Misachibee,  which  was  the  primitive 
Indian  name  of  the  grand  river,  not  improved  by 
the  addition  of  sibilant  Anglo-Saxon  syllables. 

The  Americans,  not  unmindful  of  the  aid  to 
which,  at  the  end  of  the  War  of  Independence, 
their  efforts  were  merely  auxiliary,  delight,  even 
in  the  North,  to  exalt  France  above  her  ancient 
rival ;  but,  as  if  to  show  the  innate  dissimilarity 
of  the  two  races,  the  French  Creoles  exhibit  to 
wards  the  New  Englanders  and  the  North  an 
animosity,  mingled  with  contempt,  which  argues 
badly  for  a  future  amalgamation  or  reunion.  As 
the  South  Carolinians  declare,  they  would  rather 
return  to  their  allegiance  under  the  English  mon 
archy,  so  the  Louisianians,  although  they  have 
no  sentiment  in  common  with  the  people  of  re 
publican  and  imperial  France,  assert  they  would 
far  sooner  seek  a  connection  with  the  old  coun 
try  than  submit  to  the  yoke  of  the  Yankees. 

After  breakfast,  the  Governor  drove  out  by  the 
ever-silent  levee  for  some  miles,  passing  estate 
after  estate,  where  grove  nodded  to  grove,  each 
alley  saw  its  brother.  One  could  form  no  idea, 
from  the  small  limited  frontage  of  these  planta 


tions,  that  the  proprietors  were  men  of  many 
thousands  a  year,  because  the  estates  extend  on 
an  average  for  three  or  four  miles  back  to  the 
forest.  The  absence  of  human  beings  on  the 
road  was  a  feature  which  impressed  one'  more 
and  more.  But  for  the  tall  chimneys  of  the  fac 
tories  and  the  sugar-houses,  one  might  believe 
that  these  villas  had  been  erected  by  some  pleas 
ure-loving  people  who  had  all  fled  from  the  river 
banks  for  fear  of  pestilence.  The  gangs  of  ne 
groes  at  work  were  hidden  in  the  deep  corn,  and 
their  quarters  were  silent  and  deserted.  We 
met  but  one  planter,  in  his  gig,  until  we  arrived 
at  the  estate  of  Monsieur  Potier,  the  Governor's 
brother-in-law.  The  proprietor  was  at  home, 
and  received  us  very  kindly,  though  suffering 
from  the  effects  of  a  recent  domestic  calamity. 
He  is  a  grave,  earnest  man,  with  a  face  like  Je 
rome  Bonaparte,  and  a  most  devout  Catholic  ; 
and  any  man  more  unfit  to  live  in  any  sort  of 
community  with  New  England  Puritans  one  can 
not  well  conceive ;  for  equal  intensity  of  purpose 
and  sincerity  of  conviction  on  their  part  could 
only  lead  them  to  mortal  strife.  His  house  was 
like  a  French  chateau  erected  under  tropical  in 
fluences,  and  he  led  us  through  a  handsome  gar 
den  laid  out  with  hothouses,  conservatories,  or 
ange-trees,  and  date-palms,  and  ponds  full  of  the 
magnificent  Victoria  Regia  in  flower.  We  vis 
ited  his  refining  factories  and  mills,  but  the  heat 
from  the  boilers,  which  seemed  too  much  even  for 
the  all-but-naked  negroes  who  were  at  work,  did 
not  tempt  us  to  make  a  very  long  sojourn  inside. 
The  ebony  faces  and  polished  black  backs  of  the 
slaves  were  streaming  with  perspiration  as  they 
toiled  over  boilers,  vat,  and  centrifugal  driers. 
The  good  refiner  was  not  gaining  much  money 
at  present,  for  sugar  has  been  rapidly  falling  in 
New  Orleans,  and  the  300,000  barrels  produced 
annually  in  the  South  will  fall  short  in  the  yield 
of  profits,  which  on  an  average  may  be  taken  at 
£11  a  hogshead,  without  counting  the  molasses 
for  the  planter.  With  a  most  perfect  faith  in 
States  Rights,  he  seemed  to  combine  either  in 
difference  or  ignorance  in  respect  to  the  power 
and  determination  of  the  North  to  resist  seces 
sion  to  the  last.  All  the  planters  hereabouts 
have  sown  an  unusual  quantity  of  Indian  corn, 
to  have  food  for  the  negroes  if  the  war  lasts,  with 
out  any  distress  from  inland  or  sea  blockade. 
The  absurdity  of  supposing  that  a  blockade  can 
injure  them  in  the  way  of  supply  is  a  favourite 
theme  to  descant  upon.  They  may  find  out, 
however,  that  it  is  no  contemptible  means  of 
warfare. 

At  night,  there  are  regular  patrols  and  watch 
men,  who  look  after  the  leve'e  and  the  negroes. 
A  number  of  dogs  are  also  loosed,  but  I  am  as 
sured  that  the  creatures  do  not  tear  the  negroes  ; 
they  are  taught  "merely"  to  catch  and  mumble 
them,  to  treat  them  as  a  well-broken  retriever 
uses  a  wounded  wild  duck. 

At  six  A.M.,  Moise  came  to  ask  me  if  I  should 
like  a  glass  of  absinthe,  or  anything  stomachic. 
At  breakfast  Avas  Doctor  Laporte,  formerly  a 
member  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  France, 
who  was  exiled  by  Louis  Napoleon ;  in  other 
words,  he  was  ordered  to  give  in  his  adhesion  to 
the  new  regime,  or  to  take  a  passport  for  abroad. 
He  preferred  the  latter  course,  and  now,  true 
Frenchman,  finding  the  Emperor  has  aggran 
dised  France  and  added  to  her  military  reputa- 


102 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


tion,  he  admires  the  man  on  whom  but  a  few 
years  ago  he  lavished  the  bitterest  hate. 

The  carriage  is  ready,  and  the  word  farewell 
is  spoken  at  last.  M.  Alfred  Roman,  my  com 
panion,  has  travelled  in  Europe,  and  learned 
philosophy ;  is  not  so  orthodox  as  many  of  the 
gentlemen  1  have  met  who  indulge  in  ingenious 
hypotheses  to  comfort  the  consciences  of  the  an- 
tlitropoproprietors.  The  negro  skull  won't  hold  as 
many  ounces  of  shot  as  the  white  man's.  Potent 
proof  that  the  white  man  has  a  right  to  sell  and 
to  own  the  creature  !  He  is  plantigrade,  and 
curved  as  to  the  tibia!  Cogent  demonstration 
that  he  was  made  expressly  to  work  for  the  arch- 
footed,  straight-tibiaed  Caucasian.  He  has  a 
rete  imicosum  and  a  coloured  pigment !  Surely 
he  cannot  have  a  soul  of  the  same  colour  as  that 
of  an  Italian  or  a  Spaniard,  far  less  of  a  flaxen- 
haired  Saxon !  See  these  peculiarities  in  the 
frontal  sinus — in  sinciput  or  occiput !  Can  you 
doubt  that  the  being  with  a  head  of  that  shape 
was  made  only  to  till,  hoe,  and  dig  for  another 
race  ?  Besides,  the  Bible  says  that  he  is  a  son 
of  Ham,  and  prophecy  must  be  carried  out  in 
the  rice-swamps,  sugar-canes,  and  maize-fields 
of  the  Southern  Confederation.  It  is  flat  blas 
phemy  to  set  yourself  against  it.  Our  Saviour 
sanctions  slavery  because  he  does  not  say  a  word 
against  it,  and  it  is  very  likely  that  St.  Paul  was 
a  slave-owner.  Had  cotton  and  sugar  been 
known,  the  apostle  might  have  been  a  planter ! 
Furthermore,  the  negro  is  civilised  by  being  car 
ried  away  from  Africa  and  set  to  work,  instead 
of  idling  in  native  inutility.  What  hope  is  there 
of  Christianising  the  African  races,  except  by 
the  agency  of  the  apostles  from  New  Orleans, 
Mobile,  or  Charleston,  who  sing  the  sweet  songs 
of  Zion  with  such  vehemence,  and  clamour  so 
fervently  for  baptism  in  the  waters  of  the  "Jaw- 
dam?" 

If  these  high  physical,  metaphysical,  moral 
and  religious  reasonings  do  not  satisfy  you,  and 
you  are  bold  enough  to  venture  still  to  be  un 
convinced  and  to  say  so,  then  I  advise  you  not 
to  come  within  reach  of  a  mass  meeting  of  our 
citizens,  who  may  be  able  to  find  a  rope  and  a 
tree  in  the  neighbourhood. 

As  we  jog  along  in  an  easy  rolling  carriage 
drawn  by  a  pair  of  stout  horses,  a  number  of 
white  people  meet  us  coming  from  the  Catholic 
chapel  of  the  parish,  where  they  had  been  attend 
ing  the  service  for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of  a 
lady  much  beloved  in  the  neighbourhood.  The 
black  people  must  be  supposed  to  have  very  hap 
py  souls,  or  to  be  as  utterly  lost  as  Mr.  Shandy's 
homunculus  was  under  certain  circumstances, 
for  I  have  failed  to  find  that  any  such  services 
are  ever  considered  necessary  in  their  case,  al 
though  they  .may  have  been  very  good  —  or, 
where  the  services  would  be  most  desirable — 
very  bad  Catholics.  The  dead,  leaden  uniform 
ity  of  the  scenery  forced  one  to  converse,  in  or 
der  to  escape  profound  melancholy:  the  levee 
on  the  right  hand,  above  which  nothing  was  vis 
ible  but  the  sky ;  on  the  left,  plantations  with  cy 
press  fences,  whitewashed  and  pointed  wooden 
gates  leading  to  the  planters'  houses,  and  rugged 
gardens  surrounded  with  shrubs,  through  which 
could  be  seen  the  slave  quarters.  Men  making 
eighty  or  ninety  hogsheads  of  sugar  in  a  year 
lived  in  most  wretched  tumble -down  wooden 
houses  not  much  larger  than  ox-sheds. 


As  we  drove  on  the  storm  gathered  overhead, 
and  the  rain  fell  in  torrents  —  the  Mississippi 
flowed  lifelessly  by — not  a  boat  on  its  broad  sur 
face. 

At  last  we  reached  Governor  Manning's  place, 
and  went  to  the  house  of  the  overseer,  a  large, 
heavy-eyed  old  man. 

"  This  rain  will  do  good  to  the  corn,"  said  the 
overseer.  "The  niggers  has  had  sceerce  nothin' 
to  do  leetly,  as  they  'eve  cleaned  out  the  fields 
pretty  well." 

At  the  ferry-house  I  was  attended  by  one  stout 
young  slave,  who  was  to  row  me  over.  Two  fiat- 
bottomed  skiffs  lay  on  the  bank.  The  negro 
groped  under  the  shed,  and  pulled  out  a  piece  of 
wood  like  a  large  spatula,  some  four  feet  long, 
and  a  small  round  pole  a  little  longer.  "What 
are  those  ?"  quoth  I.  ' '  Dem's  oars,  Massa, "  was 
my  sable  ferryman's  brisk  reply.  "  I'm  very  sure 
they  are  not ;  if  they  were  spliced  they  might 
make  an  oar  between  them."  "Golly,  and 
dat's  the  trute,  Massa."  "Then  go  and  get 
oars,  will  you?"  While  he  was  hunting  about 
we  entered  the  shed  at  the  ferry  for  shelter  from 
the  rain.  We  found  "a  solitary  woman  sitting" 
smoking  a  pipe  by  the  ashes  on  the  hearth,  blear- 
eyed,  low-browed  and  morose — young  as  she  was. 
She  never  said  a  word  nor  moved  as  we  came  in, 
sat  and  smoked,  and  looked  through  her  gummy 
eyes  at  chickens  about  the  size  of  sparrows,  and 
at  a  cat  not  larger  than  a  rat  which  ran  about 
on  the  dirty  floor.  A  little  girl,  some  four  years 
of  age,  not  overdressed  —  indeed,  half  naked, 
"not  to  put  too  fine  a  point  upon  it" — crawled 
out  from  under  the  bed,  where  she  had  hid  on 
our  approach.  As  she  seemed  incapable  of  ap 
preciating  the  use  of  a  small  piece  of  silver  pre 
sented  to  her  —  having  no  precise  ideas  in  coin 
age  or  toffy — her  parent  took  the  obolus  in 
charge,  with  unmistakeable  decision ;  but  still 
the  lady  would  not  stir  a  step  to  aid  our  guide, 
who  now  insisted  on  the  "key  ov  de  oar-house." 
The  little  thing  sidled  off  and  hunted  it  out  from 
the  top  of  the  bedstead,  and  when  it  was  found, 
and  the  boat  was  ready,  I  was  not  sorry  to  quit 
the  company  of  the  silent  woman  in  black.  The 
boatman  pushed  his  skiff,  in  shape  a  snuffer- 
dish,  some  ten  feet  long  and  a  foot  deep,  into  the 
water — there  was  a  good  deal  of  rain  in  it.  I 
got  in  too,  and  the  conscious  waters  immediate 
ly  began  vigorously  spurting  through  the  cotton 
wadding  wherewith  the  craft  was  caulked.  Had 
we  gone  out  into  the  stream  we  should  have  had 
a  swim  for  it,  and  they  do  say  that  the  Missis 
sippi  is  the  most  dangerous  river  in  the  known 
world  for  that  healthful  exercise.  "  Why !  deuce 
take  you"  (I  said  at  least  that,  in  my  wrath), 
"don't  you  see  the  boat  is  leaky?"  "See  it 
now  for " true,  Massa.  Nobody  able  to  tell  dat 
till  Massa  get  in,  though."  Another  skiff  proved 
to  be  more  staunch.  I  bade  good-bye  to  my 
friend  Roman,  and  sat  down  in  my  boat,  which 
was  forced  by  the  negro  against  the  stream  close 
to  the  bank,  in  order  to  get  a  good  start  across 
to  the  other  side.  The  view  from  my  lonely  po 
sition  was  curious,  but  not  at  all  picturesque. 
|  The  world  was  bounded  on  both  sides  by  a  high 
bank,  which  constricted  the  broad  river,  just  as 
if  one  were  sailing  down  an  open  sewer  of  enor 
mous  length  and  breadth.  Above  the  bank  rose 
!  the  tops  of  tall  trees  and  the  chimneys  of  sugar- 
I  houses,  and  that  was  all  to  be  seen  save  the  sky. 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


103 


A  quarter  of  an  hour  brought  us  to  the  levee 
on  the  other  side.  I  ascended  the  bank,  and 
across  the  road,  directly  in  front,  appeared  a  car 
riage  gateway  and  wickets  of  wood,  painted 
white,  in  a  line  of  park  palings  of  the  same  ma 
terial,  which  extended  up  and  down  the  road  far 
as  the  eye  could  see,  and  guarded  wide-spread 
fields  of  maize  and  sugar-cane.  An  avenue 
lined  with  trees,  with  branches  close  set,  droop 
ing  and  overarching  a  walk  paved  with  red 
brick,  led  to  the  house,  the  porch  of  which  was 
visible  at  the  extremity  of  the  lawn,  with  cluster 
ing  flowers,  rose,  jessamine,  and  creepers  cling 
ing  to  the  pillars  supporting  the  verandah.  The 
view  from,  the  belvedere  on  the  roof  was  one  of 
the  most  striking  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 

If  an  English  agriculturist  could  see  six  thou 
sand  acres  of  the  finest  land  in  one  field,  unbro 
ken  by  hedge  or  boundary,  and  covered  with  the 
most  magnificent  crops  of  tasseling  Indian  corn 
and  sprouting  sugar-cane,  as  level  as  a  billiard- 
table,  he  would  surely  doubt  his  senses.  But 
here  is  literally  such  a  sight — six  thousand  acres, 
better  tilled  than  the  finest  patch  in  all  the  Lo- 
thians,  green  as  Meath  pastures,  which  can  be 
turned  up  for  a  hundred  years  to  come  without 
requiring  manure,  of  depth  practically  unlimit 
ed,  and  yielding  an  average  profit  on  what  is 
sold  off  it  of  at  least  20L  an  acre,  at  the  old 
prices  and  usual  yield  of  sugar.  Rising  up  in 
the  midst  of  the  verdure  are  the  white  lines  of 
the  negro  cottages  and  the  plantation  offices  and 
sugar-houses,  which  look  like  large  public  edi 
fices  in  the  distance.  My  host  was  not  ostenta 
tiously  proud  in  telling  me  that,  in  the  year 
1857,  he  had  purchased  this  estate  for  300,000/., 
and  an  adjacent  property,  of  8000  acres,  for 
150,  OOO/.,  and  that  he  had  left  Belfast  in  early 
youth,  poor  and  unfriended,  to  seek  his  fortune, 
and  indeed  scarcely  knowing  what  fortune  meant, 
in  the  New  World.  In  fact,  he  had  invested  in 
these  purchases  the  greater  part,  but  not  all,  of 
the  profits  arising  from  the  business  in  New  Or 
leans,  which  he  inherited  from  his  master ;  of 
which  there  still  remained  a  solid  nucleus  in  the 
shape  of  a  great  woollen  magazine  and  country 
house.  He  is  not  yet  fifty  years  of  age,  and  his 
confidence  in  the  great  future  of  sugar  induced 
him  to  embark  this  enormous  fortune  in  an  estate 
which  the  blockade  has  stricken  with  paralysis. 
I  cannot  doubt,  however,  that  he  regrets  he 
did  not  invest  his  money  in  a  certain  great  es 
tate  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  which  he  had  near 
ly  decided  on  buying ;  and,  had  he  done  so,  he 
would  now  be  in  the  position  to  which  his  unaf 
fected  good  sense,  modesty,  kindliness,  and  be 
nevolence,  always  adding  the  rental,  entitle  him. 
Six  thousand  acres  on  this  one  estate  all  covered 
with  sugar-cane,  and  16,000  acres  more  of  In 
dian  corn,  to  feed* the  slaves; — these  were  great 
possessions,  but  not  less  than  18,000  acres  still 
remained,  covered  with  brake  and  forest,  and 
swampy,  to  be  reclaimed  and  turned  into  gold. 
/A.s  easy  to  persuade  the  owner  of  such  wealth 
that  slavery  is  indefensible  as  to  have  convinced 
the  Norman  baron  that  the  Saxon  churl  who 
tilled  his  lands  ought  to"  be  his  equal. ; 

I  found  Mr.  Ward  and  a  few  merchants  from 
New  Orleans  in  possession  of  the  bachelor's 
house.  The  service  was  performed  by  slaves, 
and  the  order  and  regularity  of  the  attendants 
were  worthy  of  a  well-regulated  English  man 


sion.  In  Southern  houses  along  the  coast,  as 
the  Mississippi  above  New  Orleans  is  termed, 
beef  and  mutton  are  rarely  met  with,  and  the 
more  seldom  the  better.  Fish,  also,  is  scarce, 
but  turkeys,  geese,  poultry,  and  preparations  of 
pig,  excellent  vegetables,  and  wine  of  the  best 
quality,  render  the  absence  of  the  accustomed 
dishes  little  to  be  regretted. 

The  silence  which  struck  me  at  Governor  Uo- 
man's  is  not  broken  at  Mr.  Burnside's ;  and  when 
the  last  thrill  of  the  mocking-bird's  song  has 
died  out  through  the  grove,  a  stillness  of  Averni- 
an  profundity  settles  on  hut,  field,  and  river. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Negroes— Sugar-cane  plantations— The  negro  and  cheap 
labour — Mortality  of  blacks  and  whites — Irish  labour  in 

.  Louisiana — A  sugar-house — Negro  children — Want  of 
education — Negro  diet — Negro  hospital — Spirits  in  the 
morning — Breakfast — More  slaves— Creole  planters. 

June  5th. — The  smart  negro  who  waited  on 
me  this  morning  spoke  English.  I  asked  him 
if  he  knew  how  to  read  and  write. — "We  must 
not  do  that,  sir."  "Where  were  you  born?" — 
"I  were  raised  on  the  plantation,  Massa,  but 
I  have  been  to  New  Orleens ;''  and  then  he  add 
ed,  with  an  air  of  pride,  "I  s'pose,  sir,  Massa 
Burnside  not  take  less  than  1500  dollars  for  me." 
Downstairs  to  breakfast,  the  luxuries  of  which 
are  fish,  prawns,  and  red  meat  which  has  been 
sent  for  to  Donaldsonville  by  boat  rowed  by  an 
old  negro.  Breakfast  over,  I  walked  down  to 
the  yard,  where  the  horses  were  waiting,  and 
proceeded  to  visit  the  saccharine  principality. 
Mr.  Seal,  the  overseer  of  this  portion  of  the  es 
tate,  was  my  guide,  if  not  philosopher  and  friend. 
Our  road  lay  through  a  lane  formed  by  a  cart- 
track,  between  fields  of  Indian  corn  just  begin 
ning  t  to  flower — as  it  is  called  technically,  to 
"tassel" — and  sugar-cane.  There  were  stalks 
of  the  former  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  in  height, 
with  three  or  four  ears  each,  round  which  the 
pea  twined  in  leafy  masses.  The  maize  affords 
food  to  the  negro,  and  the  husks  are  eaten  by 
the  horses  and  mules,  which  also  fatten  on  the 
peas  in  rolling  time. 

The  wealth  of  the  land  is  inexhaustible :  all 
the  soil  requires  is  an  alternation  of  maize  and 
cane ;  and  the  latter,  when  cut  in  the  stalk, 
called  "rattoons,"  at  the  end  of  the  year,  pro 
duces  a  fresh  crop,  yielding  excellent  sugar. 
The  cane  is  grown  from  stalks  which  are  laid 
in  pits  during  the  winter  till  the  ground  has 
been  ploughed,  when  each  piece  of  cane  is  laid 
longitudinally  on  the  ridge  and  covered  with 
earth,  and  from  each  joint  of  the  stalk  springs 
forth  a  separate  sprout  when  the  crop  begins  to 
grow.  At  present  the  sugar-cane  is  waiting  for 
its  full  development,  but  the  negro  labour  around 
its  stem  has  ceased.  It  is  planted  in  long  con 
tinuous  furrows ;  and  although  the  palm  -  like 
tops  have  not  yet  united  in  a  uniform  arch  over 
the  six  feet  which  separates  row  from  row,  the 
stalks  are  higher  than  a  man.  The  plantation 
is  pierced  with  wagon  roads,  for  the  purpose  of 
conveying  the  cane  to  the  sugar-mills,  and  these 
again  are  intersected  by  and  run  parallel  with 
drains  and  ditches,  portions  of  the  great  system 
of  irrigation  and  drainage,  in  connection  with  a 
canal  to  carry  off  the  surplus  water  to  a  bayou. 
The  extent  of  these  works  may  be  estimated  by 


104 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


the  fact  that  there  are  thirty  miles  of  road  and 
twenty  miles  of  open  deep  drainage  through  the 
estate,  and  that  the  main  canal  is  fifteen  feet 
wide,  and  at  present  four  feet  deep;  but  in  the 
midst  of  this  waste  of  plenty  and  wealth,  where 
are  the  human  beings  who  produce  both  ?  One 
must  go  far  to  discover  them ;  they  are  buried 
in  sugar  and  in  maize,  or  hidden  in  negro  quar 
ters.  In  truth,  there  is  no  trace  of  them,  over 
all  this  expanse  of  land,  unless  one  knows  where 
to  seek;  no  "ploughboy  whistles  over  the  lea;" 
no  rustic  stands  to  do  his  own  work,  but  the 
gang  is  moved  off  in  silence  from  point  to  point, 
like  a  corps  d'arme'e  of  some  despotic  emperor 
manoeuvring  in  the  battle-field. 

Admitting  everything  that  can  be  said,  I  am 
the  more  persuaded,  from  what  I  see,  that  the 
real  foundation  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States 
lies  in  the  power  of  obtaining  labour  at  will  at  a 
rate  which  cannot  be  controlled  by  any  combina 
tion  of  the  labourers.  Granting  the  heat  and  the 
malaria,  it  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be  argued  that 
planters  could  not  find  white  men  to  do  their 
work  if  they  would  pay  them  for  the  risk.  A 
negro,  it  is  true,  bears  heat  well,  and  can  toil 
under  the  blazing  sun  of  Louisiana,  in  the  stifling 
air  between  the  thick-set  sugar-canes,  but  the 
Irishman  who  is  employed  in  the  stoke-hole  of  a 
steamer  is  exposed  to  a  higher  temperature  and 
physical  exertion  even  more  arduous.  The  Irish 
labourer  can,  however,  set  a  value  on  his  work  ; 
the  African  slave  can  only  determine  the  amount 
of  work  to  be  got  from  him  by  the  exhaustion  of 
his  powers.  Again,  the  indigo  planter  in  India, 
out  from  morn  till  night  amidst  his  ryots,  or  the 
sportsman  toiling  under  the  midday  sun  through 
swamp  and  jungle,  proves  that  the  white  man  can 
endure  the  utmost  power  of  the  hottest  sun  in  the 
world  as  well  as  the  native.  More  than  that,  the 
white  man  seems  to  be  exempt  from  the  inflam 
matory  disease,  pneumonia,  and  attacks  of  the 
mucous  membrane  and  respiratory  organs  to 
which  the  blacks  are  subject ;  and  if  the  statis 
tics  of  negro  mortality  were  rigidly  examined,  I 
doubt  that  they  would  exhibit  as  large  a  propor 
tion  of  mortality  and  sickness  as  would  be  found 
amongst  gangs  of  white  men  under  similar  cir 
cumstances.  But  the  slave  is  subjected  to  rigid 
control ;  he  is  deprived  of  stimulating  drinks  in 
which  the  free  white  labourer  would  indulge ;  and 
he  is  obliged  to  support  life  upon  an  antiphlo 
gistic  diet,  which  gives  him,  however,  sufficient 
strength  to  execute  his  daily  task. 

It  is  in  the  supposed  cheapness  of  slave  labour 
and  its  profitable  adaptation  in  the  production 
of  Southern  crops,  that  the  whole  gist  and  essence 
of  the  question  really  lie.  The  planter  can  get 
from  the  labour  of  a  slave  for  whom  he  has  paid 
200/.,  a  sum  of  money  which  will  enable  him  to 
use  up  that  slave  in  comparatively  a  few  years 
of  his  life,  whilst  he  would  have  to  pay  to  the 
white  labourer  a  sum  that  would  be  a  great  ap 
parent  diminution  of  his  profits,  for  the  same 
amount  of  work.  It  is  calculated  that  each  field- 
hand,  as  an  able-bodied  negro  is  called,  yields 
seven  hogsheads  of  sugar  a  year,  which,  at  the 
rate  of  fourpence  a  pound,  at  an  average  of  a 
hogshead  an  acre,  would  produce  to  the  planter 
140/.  for  every  slave.  This  is  wonderful  interest 
on  the  planter's  money ;  but  he  sometimes  gets 
two  hogsheads  an  acre,  and  even  as  many  as 
three  hogsheads  have  been  produced  in  good 


years  on  the  best  lands ;  in  other  words,  two  and 
a  quarter  tons  of  sugar  and  refuse  stuff,  called 
'bagasse,''  have  been  obtained  from  an  acre  of 
cane.  Not  one  planter  of  the  many  I  have  asked 
has  ever  given  an  estimate  of  the  annual  cost  of 
a  slave's  maintenance ;  the  idea  of  calculating  it 
never  comes  into  their  heads. 

Much  depends  upon  the  period  at  which  frost 
sets  in  ;  and  if  the  planters  can  escape  till  Jan 
uary  without  any  cold  to  nip  the  juices  and  the 
cane,  their  crop  is  increased  in  value  each  day  ; 
but  it  is  not  till  October  they  can  begin  to  send 
cane  to  the  mill,  in  average  seasons  ;  and  if  the 
frost  does  not  come  till  December,  they  may  count 
upon  the  fair  average  of  a  hogshead  of  1200 
pounds  of  sugar  to  every  acre. 

The  labour  of  ditching,  trenching,  cleaning  the 
waste  lands,  and  hewing  down  the  forests  is  gen 
erally  done  by  Irish  labourers,  who  travel  about 
the  country  under  contractors,  or  are  engaged  by 
resident  gangsmen  for  the  task.  Mr.  Seal  la-  / 
mented  the  high  prices  of  this  work  ;  but  then,  ./ 
as  he  said,  "  It  was  much  better  to  have  Irish  to 
do  it,  who  cost  nothing  to  the  planter  if  they 
died,  than  to  use  up  good  field-hands  in  such 
severe  employment. "  There  is  a  wonderful  mine 
of  truth  in  this  observation.  Heaven  knows  how 
many  poor  Hibernians  have  been  consumed  and 
buried  in  these  Louisianian  swamps,  leaving  their 
earnings  to  the  dramshop  keeper  and  the  con 
tractor,  and  the  results  of  their  toil  to  the  planter. 
This  estate  derives  its  name  from  an  Indian  tribe 
called  Houmas ;  and  when  Mr.  Burnside  pur 
chased  it  for  300,  OOQL  he  received  in  the  first 
year  63,000/.  as  the  clear  value  of  the  crops  on 
his  investment. 

The  first  place  I  visited  with  the  overseer  was 
a  new  sugar-house,  which  negro  carpenters  and 
masons  were  engaged  in  erecting.  It  would  have 
been  amusing  had  not  the  subject  been  so  grave, 
to  hear  the  overseer's  praises  of  the  intelligence 
and  skill  of  these  workmen,  and  his  boast  that 
they  did  all  the  work  of  skilled  labourers  on  the 
estate,  and  then  to  listen  to  him,  in  a  few  min 
utes,  expatiating  on  the  utter  helplessness  and 
ignorance  of  the  black  race,  their  incapacity  to 
do  any  good,  or  even  to  take  care  of  themselves. 

There  are  four  sugar-houses  on  this  portion  of 
Mr.  Burnside's  estate,  consisting  of  grinding- 
mills,  boiling-houses,  and  crystallising  sheds. 

The  sugar-house  is  the  capital  of  the  negro 
quarters,  and  to  each  of  them  is  attached  an  en 
closure,  in  which  there  is  a  double  row  of  single- 
storied  wooden  cottages,  divided  into  two  or  four 
rooms.  An  avenue  of  trees  runs  down  the  centre 
of  the  negro  sti-eet,  and  behind  each  hut  are  rude 
poultry-hutches,  which,  with  geese  and  turkeys 
and  a  few  pigs,  form  the  perquisites  of  the  slaves, 
and  the  sole  source  from  which  they  derive  their 
acquaintance  with  currency.  •  Their  terms  are 
strictly  cash.  An  old  negro  brought  up  some 
ducks  to  Mr.  Burnside  last  night,  and  oft'ered  the 
lot  of  six  for  three  dollars.  "  Very  well,  Louis ; 
if  you  come  to-morrow,  I'll  pay  you."  "No, 
massa  ;  me  want  de  money  now."  "But  won't 
you  give  me  credit,  Louis  ?  Don't  you  think  I'll 
pay  the  three  dollars?"  "Oh,  pay  some  day, 
massa,  sure  enough.  Massa  good  to  pay  de  tree 
dollar ;  but  this  nigger  want  money  now  to  buy 
food  and  things  for  him  leetle  famly.  They  will 
trust  massa  at  Donaldsville,  but  they  won't  trust 
this  nigger."  I  was  told  that  a  thrifty  negro 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


105 


/ 


will  sometimes  make  ten  or  twelve  pounds  a  year 
from  his  corn  and  poultry ;  but  he  can  have  no 
inducement  to  hoard;  for  whatever  is  his,  as 
well  as  himself,  belongs  to  his  master. 

Mr.  Seal  conducted  me  to  a  kind  of  forcing- 
house,  where  the  young  negroes  are  kept  in 
charge  of  certain  old  crones  too  old  for  work, 
whilst  their  parents  are  away  in  the  cane  and 
Indian  corn.  A  host  of  children  of  both  sexes 
were  seated  in  the  verandah  of  a  large  wooden 
shed,  or  playing  around  it,  very  happily  and  nois 
ily.  I  was  glad  to  see  the  boys  and  girls  of  nine, 
ten,  and  eleven  years  of  age  were  at  this  season, 
at  all  events,  exempted  from  the  cruel  fate  which 
befalls  poor  children  of  their  age  in  the  mining 
and  manufacturing  districts  of  England.  At  the 
sight  of  the  overseer  the  little  ones  came  forward 
in  tumultuous  glee,  babbling  out,  "  Massa  Seal," 
and  evidently  pleased  to  see  him. 

As  a  jolly  agriculturist  looks  at  his  yearlings 
or  young  beeves,  the  kindly  overseer,  lolling  in 
his  saddle,  pointed  with  his  whip  to  the  glisten 
ing  fat  ribs  and  corpulent  paunches  of  his  wool 
ly-headed  flock.  "  There's  not  a  plantation  in 
the  State,"  quoth  he,  "can  show  such  a  lot  of 
young  niggers.  The  way  to  get  them  right  is 
not  to  work  the  mothers  too  hard  when  they  are 
near  their  time ;  to  give  them  plenty  to  eat,  and 
not  to  send  them  to  the  fields  too  soon."  He 
told  me  the  increase  was  about  five  per  cent,  per 
annum.  The  children  were  quite  sufficiently 
clad,  ran  about  round  us,  patted  the  horses,  felt 
our  legs,  tried  to  climb  up  on  the  stirrup,  and 
twinkled  their  black  and  ochrey  eyes  at  Massa 
Seal.  Some  were  exceedingly  fair ;  and  Mr. 
Seal,  observing  that  my  eye  followed  these,  mur 
mured  something  about  the  overseers  before  Mr. 
Burnside's  time  being  rather  a  bad  lot.  He 
talked  about  their  colour  and  complexion  quite 
openly ;  nor  did  it  seem  to  strike  him  that  there 
was  any  particular  turpitude  in  the  white  man 
who  had  left  his  offspring  as  slaves  on  the  plant 
ation. 

A  tall,  well-built  lad  of  some  nine  or  ten  years 
stood  by  me,  looking  curiously  into  my  face. 
"What  is  your  name?"  said  I.  "George,"  he 
replied.  "Do  you  know  how  to  read  or  write?" 
He  evidently  did  not  understand  the  question. 
"  Do  you  go  to  church  or  chapel  ?'"  A  dubious 
shake  of  the  head.  "  Did  you  ever  hear  of  our 
Saviour?"  At  this  point  Mr.  Seal  interposed, 
and  said,  "I  think  we  had  better  go  on,  as  the 
sun  is  getting  hot,"  and  so  we  rode  gently  through 
the  little  ones ,  and  when  we  had  got  some  dis 
tance  he  said,  rather  apologetically,  "We  don't 
think  it  right  to  put  these  things  into  their  heads 
so  young ;  it  only  disturbs  their  minds  and  leads 
them  astray, 

Now,  in  this  one  quarter  there  were  no  less 
than  eighty  children,  some  twelve  and  some  even 
fourteen  years  of  age.  No  education — no  God 
— their  whole  life— food  and  play,  to  strengthen 
their  muscles  and  fit  them  for  the  work  of  a 
slave.  "And  when  they  die?"  "Well,"  said 
Mr.  Seal,  "  they  are  buried  in  that  field  there  by 
their  own  people,  and  some  of  them  have  a  sort 
of  prayers  over  them,  I  bdieve."  The  overseer, 
it  is  certain,  had  no  fastidious  notions  about 
slavery  ;  it  was  to  him  the  right  thing  in  the 
right  place,  and  his  summum  bonum  was  a  high 
price  for  sugar,  a  good  crop,  and  a  heathy  plant 
ation.  Nay,  I  am  sure  I  would  not  wrong  him 


if  I  said  he  could  see  no  impropriety  in  running 
a  good  cargo  of  regular  black  slaves,  who  might 
clear  the  great  backwood  and  swampy  under 
growth,  which  was  now  exhausting  the  energies 
of  his  field-hands,  in  the  absence  of  Irish  navvies. 

Each  negro  gets  5  Ibs.  of  pork  a  week,  and  as 
much  Indian  corn  bread  as  he  can  eat,  with  a 
portion  of  molasses,  and  occasionally  they  have 
fish  for  breakfast.  All  the  carpenters  and  smiths' 
work,  the  erection  of  sheds,  repairing  of  carts  and 
ploughs,  and  the  baking  of  bricks  for  the  farm 
buildings,  are  done  on  the  estate  by  the  slaves. 
The  machinery  comes  from  the  manufacturing 
cities  of  the  North ;  but  great  efforts  are  made 
to  procure  it  from  New  Orleans,  wrhere  factories 
have  been  already  established.  On  the  borders 
of  the  forest  the  negroes  are  allowed  to  plant 
corn  for  their  own  use,  and  sometimes  they  have 
an  overplus,  which  they  sell  to  their  masters. 
Except  when  there  is  any  harvest  pressure  on 
their  hands,  they  have  from  noon  on  Saturday 
till  dawn  on  Monday  morning  to  do  as  they 
please,  but  they  must  not  stir  off  the  plantation 
on  the  road,  unless  with  special  permit,  which  is 
rarely  granted. 

There  is  an  hospital  on  the  estate,  and  even 
shrewd  Mr.  Seal  did  not  perceive  the  conclusion 
that  was  to  be  drawn  from  his  testimony  to  its 
excellent  arrangements.  "Once  a  nigger  gets 
in  there,  he'd  like  to  live  there  for  the  rest  of  his 
life."  But  are  they  not  the  happiest,  most  con 
tented  people  in  the  world — at  any  rate,  when 
they  are  in  hospital?  I  declare  that  to  me  the 
more  orderly,  methodical,  and  perfect  the  ar 
rangements  for  economising  slave  labour — regu 
lating  slaves — are,  the  more  hateful  and  odious 
does  slavery  become.  I  would  much  rather  be 
the  animated  human  chattel  of  a  Turk,  Egyp 
tian,  Spaniard,  or  French  Creole,  than  the  labour 
ing  beast  of  a  Yankee  or  of  a  New  England  cap 
italist. 

When  I  returned  back  to  the  house  I  found 
my  friends  enjoying  a  quiet  siesta,  and  the  rest 
of  the  afternoon  was  devoted  to  idleness,  not  at 
all  disagreeable  with  a  thermometer  worthy  of 
Agra.  Even  the  mocking-birds  were  roasted 
into  silence,  and  the  bird  which  answers  to  our 
rook  or  crow  sat  on  the  under  branches  of  the 
trees,  gaping  for  air  with  his  bill  wide  open.  It 
must  be  hot  indeed  when  the  mocking-bird  loses 
his  activity.  There  is  one,  with  its  nest  in  a  rose 
bush  trailed  along  the  verandah  under  my  Avin- 
dow,  which  now  sits  over  its  young  ones  with 
outspread  wings,  as  if  to  protect  them  from  be 
ing  baked ;  and  it  is  so  courageous  and  affec 
tionate,  that  when  I  approach  quite  close,  it  mere 
ly  turns  round  its  head,  dilates  its  beautiful  dark 
eye,  and  opens  its  beak,  within  which  the  tiny 
sharp  tongue  is  saying,  "Don't  for  goodness  sake 
disturb  me,  for  if  you  force  me  to  leave,  the  chil 
dren  will  be  burned  to  death." 

June  6th. — My  chattel  Joe,  "adscriptus  mihi 
domino,"  awoke  me  to  a  bath  of  Mississippi  wa 
ter  with  huge  lumps  of  ice  in  it,  to  which  he  rec 
ommended  a  mint-julep  as  an  adjunct.  It  was 
not  here  that  I  was  first  exposed  to  an  orddal  of 
mint-julep,  for  in  the  early  morning  a  stranger 
in  a  Southern  planter's  house  may  expect  the  of 
fer  of  a  glassful  of  brandy,  sugar,  and  peppermint 
beneath  an  island  of  ice — an  obligatory  panacea 
for  all  the  evils  of  climate.  After  it  has  been 
disposed  of,  Pompey  may  come  up'  again  with 


106 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


glass  number  two :  "  Massa  say  fever  very  bad  : 
this  morning — much  dew."     It  is  possible  that  ' 
the  degenerate  Anglo-Saxon  stomach  has  not 
the  fine  tone  and  temper  of  that  of  an  Hibernian  | 
friend  of  mine,  who  considered  the  finest  thing  ; 
to  counteract  the  effects  of  a  little  excess  was  a  . 
tumbler  of  hot  whisky  and  water  the  moment  | 
the  sufferer  opened  his   eyes  in  the  mprning.  j 
Therefore,  the  kindly  offering  may  be  rejected.  > 
But  on  one  occasion  before  breakfast  the  negro  j 
brought  up  mint-julep  number  three,  the  accept 
ance  of  which  he  enforced  by  the  emphatic  dec-  ' 
laration,  "Massa  says,  sir,  you  had  better  take  ; 
this,  because  it'll  be  the  last  he  make  before  break 
fast." 

Breakfast  is  served:  there  is  on  the  table  a 
profusion  of  dishes — grilled  fowl,  prawns,  eggs  j 
and  ham,  fish  from  New  Orleans,  potted  salmon 
from  England,  preserved  meats  from  France, 
claret,  iced  water,  coffee  and  tea,  varieties  of 
hominy,  mush,  and  African  vegetable  prepara 
tions.  Then  come  the  newspapers,  which  are  pe 
rused,  eagerly  with  ejaculations,  "Do  you  hear 
what  they  are  doing  now — tinfernal  villains  !  that 
Lincoln  must  be  mad!"  and  the  like.  At  one 
o'clock,  in  spite  of  the  sun,  I  rode  out  with  Mr. 
Lee,  along  the  road  by  the  Mississippi,  to  Mr. 
Buvnside's  plantation,  called  Orange  Grove,  from 
a  few  trees  which  still  remain  in  front  of  the 
overseer's  house.  We  visited  an  old  negro,  call 
ed  ''Boatswain,"  who  lives  with  his  old  wife  in 
a  wooden  hut  close  by  the  margin  of  the  Missis 
sippi.  His  business  is  to  go  to  Donaldsonville  for 
letters,  or  meat,  or  ice  for  the  house — a  tough 
row  for  the  withered  old  man.  He  is  an  Afri 
can  born,  and  he  just  remembers  being  carried 
on  board  ship  and  taken  to  some  big  city  before 
he  came  upon  the  plantation. 

"  Do  you  remember  nothing  of  the  country 
you  came  from,  Boatswain  ?"  "Yes,  sir.  Jist 
remember  trees  and  sweet  things  my  mother 
gave  me,  and  much  hot  sand  I  put  my  feet  in, 
and  big  leaves  that  we  play  with — all  us  little 
children — and  plenty  to  eat,  and  big  birds  and 
shells."  "Would  you  like  to  go  back,  Boat 
swain?"  "What  for,  sir?  no  one  know  old 
Boatswain  there.  My  old  missus  Sally  inside." 
"Arc you  quite  happy,  Boatswain?"  "Im  get 
ting  very  old,  massa.  Massa  Burnside  very  good 
to  Boatswain,  but  who  cai-e  for  such  dam  old 
nigger?  Golla  Mighty  gave  me  fourteen  chil 
dren,  but  he  took  them  all  away  again  from  Sal 
ly  and  me.  No  budy  care  much  for  dam  old 
nigger  like  me." 

Further  on  Mr.  Seal  salutes  us  from  the  ve 
randah  of  his  house,  but  we  are  bound  for  over 
seer  Gibbs,  who  meets  us.  mounted,  by  the  road 
side — a  man  grim  in  beard  and  eye,  and  silent 
withal,  with  a  big  whip  in  his  hand  and  a  large 
knife  stuck  in  his  belt.  He  leads  us  through  a 
magnificent  area  of  cane  and  maize,  the  latter 
towering  far  above  our  heads ;  but  I  was  most 
anxious  to  see  the  forest  primaeval  which  borders 
the  clear  land  at  the  back  of  the  estate,  and 
spreads  away  over  alligator -haunted  swamps 
into  distant  bayous.  It  was  not,  however,  pos 
sible  to  gratify  one's  curiosity  very  extensive 
ly  beyond  the  borders  of  the  cleared  land,  for 
rising  round  the  roots  of  the  cypress,  swamp 
pine,  and  live  oak  there  was  a  barrier  of  under 
growth  and  bush  twined  round  the  cane  brake 
which  stands  some  sixteen  feet  high,  so  stiff  that 


the  united  force  of  man  and  horse  could  not 
make  way  against  the  rigid  fibres,  and  indeed, 
as  Mr.  Gibbs  told  us,  "When  the  niggers  take 
to  the  cane  brake  they  can  beat  man  or  dog, 
and  nothing  beats  them  but  snakes  and  starva 
tion." 

He  pointed  out  some  sheds  around  which  were 
broken  bottles  where  the  last  Irish  gang  had 
been  working,  under  one  "John  Loghlin,"  of 
Donaldsonville,  a  great  contractor,  who,  he  says, 
made  plenty  of  money  out  of  his  countrymen, 
whose  bones  are  lying  up  and  down  the  Missis 
sippi.  "They  due  work  like  fire,"  he  said. 
"Loghlin  does  not  give  them  half  the  rations 
we  give  our  negroes,  but  he  can  always  manage 
them  with  whisky,  and  when  he  wants  them  to 
do  a  job  he  gives  them  plenty  of  'forty  rod,'  and 
they  have  their  fight  out — reglar  free  fight,  I  can 
tell  you,  while  it  lasts.  Next  morning  they  will 
sign  anything  and  go  anywhere  with  him." 

On  the  Orange  Grove  Plantation,  although  the 
crops  were  so  fine,  the  negroes  unquestionably 
seemed  less  comfortable  than  those  in  the  quar 
ters  of  Houmas,  separated  from  them  by  a  mere 
nominal  division.    Then,  again,  there  were  more 
children  with  fair  complexions  to  be  seen  peep 
ing  out  of  the  huts  ;  some  of  these  were  attrib 
uted  to  the  former  overseer,  one  Johnson  by 
I  name,  but  Mr.  Gibbs,  as  if  to  vindicate  his  mem- 
!  ory,  told  me  confidentially  he  had  paid  a  large 
sum  of  money  to  the  former  proprietor  of  the 
I  estate  for  one  of  his  children,  and  had  carried  it 
|  away  with  him  when  he  left.     "  You  could  not 
expect  him,  you  know,"  said  Gibbs,  "to  buy 
them  all  at  the  prices  that  were  then  going  in 
'56.     All  the  children  on  the  estate,"  added  he, 
"are  healthy,  and  I  can  show  my  lot  against 
Seal's  over  there,  though  I  hear  tell  he  had  a 
great  show  of  them  out  to  you  yesterday." 

The  bank  of  the  river  below  the  large  planta 
tion  was  occupied  by  a  set  of  small  Creole  plant 
ers,  whose  poor  houses  were  close  together,  indi 
cating  very  limited  farms,  which  had  been  sub 
divided  from  time  to  time,  according  to  the 
French  fashion ;  so  that  the  owners  have  at  last 
approached  pauperism ;  but  they  are  tenacious 
of  their  rights,  and  will  not  yield  to  the  tempt 
ing  price  offered  by  the  large  planters.  They 
cling  to  the  soil  without  enterprise  and  without 
care.  The  Spanish  settlers  along  the  river  are 
open  to  the  same  reproach,  and  prefer  their  own 
ease  to  the  extension  of  their  race  in  other  lands, 
or  to  the  aggrandisement  of  their  posterity ;  and 
an  Epicurean  would  aver,  they  were  truer  phi 
losophers  than  the  restless  creatures  who  wear 
out  their  lives  in  toil  and  labour,  to  found  em 
pires  for  the  future. 

It  is  among  these  men  that,  at  times,  slavery 
assumes  its  harshest  aspect,  and  that  the  negroes 
are  exposed  to  the  severest  labour ;  but  it  is  also 
true  that  the  slaves  have  closer  relations  with  the 
families  of  their  owners,  and  live  in  more  inti 
mate  connection  with  them  than  they  do  under 
the  strict  police  of  the  large  plantations.  These 
people  sometimes  get  forty  bushels  of  corn  to  the 
acre,  and  a  hogshead  and  a  half  of  sugar.  We 
saw  their  children  going  to  school,  whilst  the 
heads  of  the  houses  sat  in  the  verandah  smoking, 
and  their  mothers  were  busy  with  household 
duties;  and  the  signs  of  life,  the  voices  of  wom 
en  and  children,  and  the  activity  visible  on  the 
little  farms,  contrasted  not  unpleasantly  with  the 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


107 


desert-like  stillness  of  the  larger  settlements. 
Rode  back  in  a  thunderstorm. 

At  dinner  in  the  evening  Mr.  Burnside  enter 
tained  a  number  of  planters  in  the  neighbourhood 

M.  Bringier,  M.  Coulon  (French  Creoles),  Mr. 

Duncan  Kenner,  a  medical  gentleman  named 
Cotmann,  and  others — the  last-named  gentle 
man  is  an  Unionist,  and  does  not  hesitate  to  de 
fend  his  opinions ;  but  he  has,  during  a  visit  to 
Russia,  formed  high  ideas  of  the  necessity  and 
virtues  of  an  absolute  and  centralised  govern 
ment. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

War-rumours  and  military  movements— Governor  Man 
ning's  slave  plantations — Fortunes  made  by  slave  labour 
—Frogs  for  £he  table— Cotton  and  sugar— A  thunder- 
Btorm.  t 

June  *ltk. — The  Confederate  issue  of  ten  mil 
lions  sterling,  in  bonds  payable  in  twenty  years, 
is  not  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of  Govern 
ment  ;  and  the  four  millions  of  small  Treasury 
notes,  without  interest,  issued  by  Congress,  are 
being  rapidly  absorbed.  Whilst  the  Richmond 
papers  demand  an  immediate  movement  on 
Washington,  the  journals  of  New  York  are  clam 
ouring  for  an  advance  upon  Richmond.  The 
planters  are  called  upon  to  accept  the  Confed 
erate  bonds  in  payment  of  the  cotton  to  be  con 
tributed  by  the  States. 

Extraordinary  delusions  prevail  on  both  sides. 
The  North  believe  that  battalions  of  scalping 
Indian  savages  are  actually  stationed  at  Harper's 
Ferry.  One  of  the  most  important  movements 
has  been  made  by  Major-General  M'Clellan,  who 
has  inarched  a  force  into  Western  Virginia  from 
Cincinnati,  has  occupied  a  portion  of  the  line 
of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railway,  which  was 
threatened  with  destruction  by  the  Secessionists  ; 
and  has  already  advanced  as  far  as  Graf  ton. 
Gen.  M'Dowell  has  been  appointed  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  Federal  forces  in  Virginia.  Every 
day  regiments  are  pouring  down  from  the  North 
to  Washington.  General  Butler,  who  is  in  com 
mand  at  Fortress  Monroe,  has  determined  to  em 
ploy  negro  fugitives,  whom  he  has  called  "  Con 
trabands,"  in  the  works  about  the  fort,  feeding 
them,  and  charging  the  cost  of  their  keep  against 
the  worth  of  their  services ;  and  Mr.  Cameron, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  has  ordered  him  to  refrain 
from  surrendering  such  slaves  to  their  masters, 
whilst  he  is  to  permit  no  interference  by  his  sol 
diers  with  the  relations  of  persons  held  to  service 
under  the  laws  of  the  States  in  which  they  are  in. 

Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  has  arrived  at  Richmond. 
At  sea  the  Federal  steamers  have  captured  a 
number  of  Southern  vessels;  and  some  small 
retaliations  have  been  made  by  the  Confederate 
privateer^.  The  largest  mass  of  the  Confederate 
troops  have  assembled  at  a  place  called  Manassas 
•Junction,  on  the  railway  from  Western  Virginia 
to  Alexandria. 

The  Northern  papers  are  filled  with  an  account 
of  a  battle  at  Philippi,  and  a  great  victory,  in 
which  no  less  than  two  of  their  men  were  wound 
ed  and  two  were  reported  missing  as  the  whole 
casualties ;  but  Napoleon  scarcely  expended  so 
much  ink  over  Austerlitz  as  is  absorbed  on  this 
glory  in  the  sensation  headings  of  the  New  York 
papers. 

After  breakfast  I  accompanied  a  party  of  Mr. 


Burnside's  friends  to  visit  the  plantations  of 
Governor  Manning,  close  at  hand.  One  plan 
tation  is  as  like  another  as  two  peas.  We  had 
the  same  paths  through  tasseling  corn,  high 
above  our  heads,  or  through  wastes  of  rising 
sugar-cane ;  but  the  slave  quarters  on  Governor 
Manning's  were  larger,  better  built,  and  more 
comfortable-looking  than  any  I  have  seen. 

Mr.  Bateman,  the  overseer,  a  dour  strong  man, 
with  spectacles  on  nose,  and  a  quid  in  his  cheek, 
led  us  over  the  ground.  As  he  saw  my  eye  rest 
ing  on  a  large  knife  in  a  leather  case  stuck  in 
his  belt,  he  thought  it  necessary  to  say,  "I  keep 
this  to  cut  my  way  through  the  cane  brakes 
about ;  they  are  so  plaguy  thick." 

All  the  surface  water  upon  the  estate  is  car 
ried  into  a  large  open  drain,  with  a  reservoir  in 
which  the  fans  of  a  large  wheel,  driven  by  steam- 
power,  are  worked  so  as  to  throw  the  water  over 
to  a  cut  below  the  level  of  the  plantation,  which 
carries  it  into  a  bayou  connected  with  the  lower 
Mississippi. 

In  this  drain  one  of  my  companions  saw  a 
prodigious  frog,  about  the  size  of  a  tortoise,  on 
which  he  pounced  with  alacrity ;  and  on  carry 
ing  his  prize  to  laud  he  was  much  congratulated 
by  his  friend.  "What  on  earth  will  you  do 
with  the  horrid  reptile?"  "Do  with  it!  why, 
eat  it,  to  be  sure."  And  it  is  actually  true,  that 
on  our  return  the  monster  '  crapaud'  was  handed 
over  to  the  old  cook,  and  presently  appeared  on 
the  breakfast-table,  looking  very  like  an  uncom 
monly  fine  spatchcock,  and  was  partaken  of  with 
enthusiasm  by  all  the  company. 

From  the  drairiing-wheel  we  proceeded  to  visit 
the  forest,  where  the  negroes  were  engaged  in 
clearing  the  trees,  turning  up  the  soil  between 
the  stumps,  which  marked  where  the  mighty  syc 
amore,  live  oak,  gum-trees,  and  pines  had  late 
ly  shaded  the  rich  earth.  In  some  places  the 
Indian  corn  was  already  waving  its  head  and 
tassels  above  the  black  gnarled  roots;  in  other 
spots  the  trees,  girdled  by  the  axe,  but  not  yet 
down,  rose  up  from  thick  crops  of  maize ;  and 
still  deeper  in  the  wood  negroes  were  guiding 
the  ploughs,  dragged  with  pain  and  difficulty  by 
mules,  three  abreast,  through  the  tangled  roots 
and  rigid  earth,  which  will  next  year  be  fit  for 
sowing.  There  were  one  hundred  and  twenty 
negroes  at  work ;  and  these,  with  an  adequate 
number  of  mules,  will  clear  four  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  of  land  this  year.  "  But  it's  death  on 
niggers  and  mules,"  said  Mr.  Bateman.  "We 
generally  do  it  with  Irish,  as  well  as  the  hedging 
and  ditching;  but  we  can't  get  them  now,  as 
they  are  all  off  to  the  wars." 

Although  the  profits  of  sugar  are  large,  the 
cost  of  erecting  the  machinery,  the  consumption 
of  wood  in  the  boiler,  and  the  scientific  appara 
tus  demand  a  far  larger  capital  than  is  required 
by  the  cotton  planter,  who,  when  he  has  got 
land,  may  procure  negroes  on  credit,  and  only 
requires  food  and  clothing  till  he  can  realise  the 
proceeds  of  their  labour,  and  make  a  certain  for 
tune.  Cotton  will  keep  where  sugar  spoils. 
The  prices  are  far  more  variable  in  the  latter, 
although  it  has  a  protective  tariff  of  20  per  cent. 

The  whole  of  the  half  million  of  hogsheads  of 
sugar  grown  in  the  South  is  consumed  in  the 
United  States,  whereas  most  of  the  cotton  is  sent 
abroad  ;  but  in  the  event  of  a  blockade  the  South 
can  use  its  sugar  ad  nauseam,  whilst  the  cotton  is 


108 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


all  but  useless  in  consequence  of  the  want  of 
manufacturers  in  the  South. 

When  I  got  back,  Mr.  Burnside  was  seated  in 
his  verandah,  gazing  with  anxiety,  but  not  with 
apprehension,  on  the  marching  columns  of  black 
clouds,  which  were  lighted  up  from  time  to  time 
by  heavy  flashes,  and  shaken  by  rolls  of  thunder. 
Day  after  day  the  planters  have  been  looking 
for  rain,  tapping  glasses,  scrutinising  aneroids, 
consulting  negro  weather  prophets,  and  now  and 
then  their  expectations  were  excited  by  clouds 
moving  down  the  river,  only  to  be  disappointed 
by  their  departure  into  space,  or,  worse  than  all, 
their  favouring  more  distant  plantations  with  a 
shower  that  brought  gold  to  many  a  coffer. 
"  Did  you  ever  see  such  luck  ?  Kenner  has  got 
it  again !  That's  the  third  shower  Bringier  has 
had  in  the  last  two  days." 

But  it  was  now  the  turn  of  all  our  friends  to 
envy  us  a  tremendous  thunder-storm,  with  a 
heavy,  even  downfall  of  rain,  which  was  sucked 
up  by  the  thirsty  earth  almost  as  fast  as  it  fell, 
and  filled  the  lusty  young  corn  with  growing 
pains,  imparting  such  vigour  to  the  cane  that  we 
literally  saw  it  sprouting  up,  and  could  mark 
the  increase  in  height  of  the  stems  from  hour  to 
hour. 

My  good  host  is  rather  uneasy  about  his  pros 
pects  this  year,  owing  to  the  war ;  and  no  won 
der.  He  reckoned  on  an  income  of  £100,000 
for  his  sugar  alone;  but  if  he  cannot  send  it 
North  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  diminution 
of  his  profits.  I  fancy,  indeed,  he  more  and 
more  regrets  that  he  embarked  his  capital  in 
these  great  sugar-swamps,  and  that  he  would 
gladly  now  invest  it  at  a  loss  in  the  old  country, 
of  which  he  is  yet  a  subject ;  for  he  has  never 
been  naturalised  in  the  United  States.  Never 
theless,  he  rejoices  in  the  finest  clarets,  and  in 
wines  of  fabulous  price,  which  are  tended  by  an 
old  white-headed  negro,  who  takes  as  much  care 
of  the  fluid  as  if  he  was  accustomed  to  drink  it 
every  day. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Visit  to  Mr.  M'Call's  plantation  —  Irish  and  Spaniards  — 
The  planter — A  Southern  sporting  man — The  Creoles — 
Leave  Houmas — Donaldsonville — Description  of  the  City 

Baton  Rouge — Steamer  to  Natchez— Southern  feeling; 

faith  in  Jefferson  Davis — Rise  and  progress  of  prosperi 
ty  for  the  planters — Ultimate  issue  of  the  war  to  both 
North  and  South. 

June  8th. — According  to  promise,  the  inmates 
of  Mr.  Burnside's  house  proceeded  to  pay  a  visit 
to-day  to  the  plantation  of  Mr.  M'Call,  who  lives 
at  the  other  side  of  the  river  some  ten  or  twelve 
miles  away.  Still  the  same  noiseless  plantations, 
the  same  oppressive  stillness,  broken  only  by  the 
tolling  of  the  bell  which  summons  the  slaves  to 
labour,  or  marks  the  brief  periods  of  its  respite  ! 
Whilst  waiting  for  the  ferry-boat,  we  visited  Dr. 
Cotmann,  who  lives  in  a  snug  house  near  the 
levee,  for,  hurried  as  we  were,  'twould  neverthe 
less  have  been  a  gross  breach  of  etiquette  to 
have  passed  his  doors ;  and  I  was  not  sorry  for 
the  opportunity  of  making  the  acquaintance  of 
a  lady  so  amiable  as  his  wife,  and  of  seeing  a 
face  with  tender,  pensive  eyes,  serene  brow,  and 
lovely  contour,  such  as  Guido  or  Greuse  would 
have  immortalised,  and  which  Miss  Cotmann, 
in  the  seclusion  of  that  little  villa  on  the  banks 


of  the  Mississippi,  scarcely  seemed  to  know, 
would  have  made  her  a  beauty  in  any  capital  in 
Europe. 

The  Doctor  is  allowed  to  rave  on  about  his 
Union  propensities  and  political  power,  as  Mr. 
Petigru  is  permitted  to  indulge  in  similar  vaga 
ries  in  Charleston,  simply  because  he  is  sup 
posed  to  be  helpless.  There  is,  however,  at  the 
bottom  of  the  Doctor's  opposition  to  the  prevail 
ing  political  opinion  of  the  neighbourhood,  a 
jealousy  of  acres  and  slaves,  and  a  sentiment 
of  animosity  to  the  great  seigneurs  and  slave 
owners,  which  actuate  him  without  his  being 
aware  of  their  influence.  After  a  halt  of  an 
hour  in  his  house,  we  crossed  in  the  ferry  to 
Donaldsonville,  where,  whilst  we  were  waiting 
for  the  carriages,  we  heard  a  dialogue  between 
some  drunken  Irishmen  and  some  still  more  in 
ebriated  Spaniards  in  fr$>nt  of  the  public  house 
at  hand.  The  Irishmen  were  going  off  to  the 
wars,  and  were  endeavouring  in  vain  to  arouse 
the  foreign  gentlemen  to  similar  enthusiasm ; 
but,  as  the  latter  were  resolutely  sitting  in  the 
gutter,  it  became  necessary  to  exert  eloquence 
and  force  to  get  them  on  their  legs  to  march  to 
the  head-quarters  of  the  Donaldsonville  Chas 
seurs.  "For  the  love  of  the  Virgin  and  your 
own  sowl's  sake,  Fernandey,  get  up  and  cum 
along  wid  us  to  fight  the  Yankees."  "  Josey, 
are  you  going  to  let  us  be  murdered  by  a  set  of 
damned  Protestins  and  rascally  niggers?"  "  Go- 
mey,  my  darling,  get  up ;  it's  eleven  dollars  a 
month,  and  food  and  everything  found.  The 
boys  will  mind  the  fishing  for  you,  and  we'll 
come  back  as  rich  as  Jews." 

What  success  attended  their  appeals  I  cannot 
tell,  for  the  carriages  came  round,  and,  having 
crossed  a  great  bayou  which  runs  down  into  an 
arm  of  the  Mississippi  near  the  sea,  we  proceed 
ed  on  our  way  to  Mr.  M 'Call's  plantation,  which 
we  reached  just  as  the  sun  was  sinking  into  the 
clouds  of  another  thunder-storm. 

The  more  one  sees  of  a  planter's  life  the  great 
er  is  the  conviction  that  its  charms  come  from  a 
particular  turn  of  mind,  which  is  separated  by  a 
wide  interval  from  modern  ideas  in  Europe. 
The  planter  is  a  denomadised  Arab  ;  —  he  has 
fixed  himself  with  horses  and  slaves  in  a  fertile 
spot,  where  he  guards  his  women  with  Oriental 
care,  exercises  patriarchal  sway,  and  is  at  once 
fierce,  tender,  and  hospitable.  The  inner  life 
of  his  household  is  exceedingly  charming,  be 
cause  one  is  astonished  to  find  the  graces  and 
accomplishments  of  womanhood  displayed  in  a 
scene  which  has  a  certain  sort  of  savage  rude 
ness  about  it  after  all,  and  where  all  kinds  of  in 
congruous  accidents  are  visible  in  the  service  of 
the  table,  in  the  furniture  of  the  house,  in  its 
decorations,  menials,  and  surrounding  scenery. 

It  was  late  in  the  evening  when  the  party  re 
turned  to  Donaldsonville  ;  and  when  we  arrived 
at  the  other  side  of  the  bayou  there  were  no  car 
riages,  so  that  we  had  to  walk  on  foot  to  the 
wharf  where  Mr.  Burnside's  boats  were  supposed 
to  be  waiting — the  negro  ferryman  having  long 
since  retired  to  rest.  Under  any  circumstances, 
a  march  on  foot  through  an  unknown  track  cov 
ered  with  blocks  of  timber  and  other  impedi 
menta  which  represented  the  road  to  the  ferry, 
could  not  be  agreeable ;  but  the  recent  rains  had 
converted  the  ground  into  a  sea  of  mud  filled 
with  holes,  with  islands  of  plank  and  beams  of 


MY  DIAEY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


109 


timber,  lighted  only  by  the  stars — and  then  this 
in  dress  trowsers  and  light  boots  ! 

We  plunged,  struggled,  and  splashed  till  we 
reached  the  levee,  where  boats  there  were  none  ; 
and  so  Mr.  Burnside  shouted  up  and  down  the 
river,  so  did  Mr.  Lee,  and  so  did  Mr.  Ward  and 
all  the  others,  whilst  I  sat  on  a  log  affecting 
philosophy  and  indifference,  in  spite  of  tortures 
from  musquitoes  innumerable,  and  severe  bites 
from  insects  unknown. 

The  city  and  river  were  buried  in  darkness ; 
the  rush  of  the  stream,  which  is  sixty  feet  deep 
near  the  banks,  was  all  that  struck  upon  the  ear 
in  the  intervals  of  the  cries,  "  Boat  ahoy !"  "  Ho 
Batelier !"  and  sundry  ejaculations  of  a  less  reg 
ular  and  decent  form,  At  length  a  boat  did 
glide  out  of  the  darkness,  and  the  man  who  row 
ed  it  stated  he  had  been  waiting  all  the  time  up 
the  bayou,  till  by  mere  accident  he  came  down 
to  the  jetty,  having  given  us  up  for  the  night. 
In  about  half  an  hour  we  were  across  the  river, 
and  had  per  force  another  interview  with  Dr. 
Cotmann,  who  regaled  us  with  his  best  in  story 
and  in  wine  till  the  carriages  were  ready,  and 
we  drove  back  to  Mr.  Burnside's,  only  meeting 
on  the  way  two  mounted  horsemen  with  jingling 
arms,  who  were,  we  were  told,  the  night  patrol ; 
of  their  duties  I  could,  however,  obtain  no  very 
definite  account. 

June  Sth. — A  thunder-storm,  which  lasted  all 
the  morning  and  afternoon  till  three  o'clock. 
When  it  cleared,  I  drove,  in  company  with  Mr. 
Burnside  and  his  friends,  to  dinner  with  Mr. 
Duncan  Kenner,  who  lives  some  ten  or  twelve 
miles  above  Houmas.  He  is  one  of  the  sporting 
men  of  the  South,  well  known  on  the  Charleston 
race-course,  and  keeps  a  large  stable  of  race 
horses  and  brood  mares,  under  the  management 
of  an  Englishman.  The  jocks  were  negro  lads  : 
and  when  we  arrived,  about  half  a  dozen  of  them 
were  giving  the  colts  a  run  in  the  paddock.  The 
calveless  legs  and  hollow  thighs  of  the  negro 
adapts  him  admirably  for  the  pigskin ;  and  these 
little  fellows  sat  their  horses  so  well,  one  might 
have  thought,  till  the  turn  in  the  course  display 
ed  their  black  faces  and  grinning  mouths,  he' 
was  looking  at  a  set  of  John  Scott's  young  gen 
tlemen  out  training. 

The  Carolinians  are  true  sportsmen,  and  in 
the  South  the  Charleston  races  create  almost  as 
much  sensation  as  our  Derby  at  home.  One  of 
the  guests  at  Mr.  Kenner's  knew  all  about  the 
winners  at  Epsom  Oaks  and  Ascot,  and  took  de 
light  in  showing  his  knowledge  of  the  "Racing 
Calendar." 

It  is  observable,  however,  that  the  Creoles  do 
not  exhibit  any  great  enthusiasm  for  horse-rac 
ing,  but  that  they  apply  themselves  rather  to 
cultivate  their  plantations  and  to  domestic  du 
ties  ;  and  it  is  even  remarkable  that  they  do  not 
stand  prominently  forward  in  the  State  Legisla 
ture,  or  aspire  to  high  political  influence  and  po 
sition,  although  their  numbers  and  wealth  would 
fairly  entitle  them  to  both.  The  population  of 
small  settlers,  scarcely  removed  from  pauperism, 
along  the  river  banks,  is  courted  by  men  who 
obtain  larger  political  influence  than  the  great 
landowners,  as  the  latter  consider  it  beneath 
them  to  have  recourse  to  the  arts  of  the  dema 
gogue. 

June  10th. — At  last  venit  summa  dies  et  ineluc- 
tabile  tempus.  I  had  seen  as  much  as  might  be 


of  the  best  phase  of  the  great  institution — less 
than  I  could  desire  of  a  most  exemplary,  kind- 
hearted,  clear-headed,  honest  man.  In  the  calm 
of  a  glorious  summer  evening  we  crossed  the  Fa 
ther  of  Waters,  waving  an  adieu  to  the  good 
friend  who  stood  on  the  shore,  and  turning  our 
backs  to  the  home  we  had  left  behind  us.  It 
was  dark  when  the  boat  reached  Donaldsonville 
on  the  opposite  "coast." 

I  should  not  be  surprised  to  hear  that  the 
founder  of  this  remarkable  city,  which  once  con 
tained  the  archives  of  the  State,  now  transferred 
to  Baton  Rouge,  was  a  North  Briton.  There  is 
a  simplicity  and  economy  in  the  plan  of  the 
place  not  unfavourable  to  that  view,  but  the  mo 
tive  which  induced  Donaldson  to  found  his  Rome 
on  the  west  of  Bayou  La  Fourche  from  the  Mis 
sissippi  must  be  a  secret  to  all  time.  Much  must 
the  worthy  Scot  have  been  perplexed  by  his  neigh 
bours,  a  long-reaching  colony  of  Spanish  Creoles, 
who  toil  not  and  spin  nothing  but  fishing-nets, 
and  who  live  better  than  Solomon,  and  are  prob 
ably  as  well  dressed,  minus  the  barbaric  pearl 
and  gold  of  the  Hebrew  potentate.  Take  the 
odd,  little,  retiring,  modest  houses  which  grow 
in  the  hollows  of  Scarborough,  add  to  them  the 
least  imposing  mansions  in  the  town  of  Folk- 
stone,  cast  these  broadsown  over  the  surface  of 
the  Essex  marshes,  plant  a  few  trees  in  front  of 
them,  then  open  a  few  cafes  biUard  of  the  camp 
sort  along  the  main  street,  and  you  have  done  a 
very  good  Donaldsonville. 

A  policeman  welcomes  us  on  the^  landing,  and 
does  the  honours  of  the  market,  which  has  a 
beggarly  account  of  empty  benches,  a  Texan  bull 
done  into  beef,  and  a  coffee-shop.  The  police 
man  is  a  tall,  lean,  west  countryman ;  his  story 
is  simple,  and  he  has  it  to  tell.  He  was  one  of 
Dan  Rice's  company — a  travelling  Astley.  He 
came  to  Donaldsonville,  saw,  and  was  conquered 
by  one  of  the  Spanish  beauties,  married  her,  be 
came  tavern-keeper,  failed,  learned  French,  and 
is  now  constable  of  the  parish.  There  was,  how 
ever,  a  weight  on  his  mind.  He  had  studied 
the  matter  profoundly,  but  he  was  not  near  the 
bottom.  How  did  the  friends,  relatives,  and  tribe 
of  his  wife  live?  No  one  could  say.  They  reared 
chickens,  and  they  caught  fish :  when  there'  was 
a  pressure  on  the  planters,  they  turned  out  to 
work  for  6s.  Gd.  a  day,  but  those  were  rare  occa 
sions.  The  policeman  had  become  quite  grey 
while  excogitating  on  the  matter,  and  he  had 
"nary  notion  how  they  did  it." 

Donaldsonville  has  done  one  fine  thing.  It 
has  furnished  two  companies  of  soldiers  —  all 
Irishmen — to  the  wars,  and  the  third  is  in  the 
course  of  formation.  Not  much  hedging,  ditch 
ing,  or  hard  work  these  times  for  Paddy !  The 
blacksmith,  a  huge  tower  of  muscle,  claims  ex 
emption  on  the  ground  that  "  the  divil  a  bit  of 
him  comes  from  Oireland ;  he  nivir  bird  af  it, 
barrin'  from  the  buks  he  rid,"  and  is  doing  his 
best  to  remain  behind,  but  popular  Opinion  is 
against  him. 

As  the  steamer  could  not  be  up  from  New 
Orleans  till  dawn,  it  was  a  relief  to  saunter 
through  Donaldsonville  to  see  society,  which  con 
sisted  of  several  gentlemen  and  various  Jews  • 
playing  games  unknown  to  Hoyle,  in  oaken  bar 
rooms  flanked  by  billiard  tables.  Doctor  Cot 
mann,  who  had  crossed  the  river  to  see  patients 
suffering  from  an  attack  of  euchre,  took  us  round 


110 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


to  a  little  club,  where  I  was  introduced  to  a  num 
ber  of  gentlemen,  who  expressed  great  pleasure 
at  seeing  me,  shook  hands  violently,  and  walked 
away ;  and,  finally,  melted  off  into  a  cloud  of 
musquitoes  by  the  river  bank,  into  a  box  pre 
pared  for  them,  which  was  called  a  bedroom. 

These  rooms  were  built  of  timber  on  the  stage 
close  by  the  river.  "Why  can't  I  have  one  of 
those  rooms  ?"  asked  I,  pointing  to  a  larger  mus- 
quito  box.  "It  is  engaged  by  ladies."  "How 
do  you  know  ?"  "  Parceque  elles  oat  envoye"  leur 
lutin"  It  was  delicious  to  meet  the  French 
"plunder"  for  baggage — the  old  phrase,  so  nice 
ly  rendered  —  in  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
boatman. 

Having  passed  a  night  of  discomfiture  with  the 
winged  demons  of  my  box,  I  was  aroused  by  the 
booming  of  the  steam  drum  of  the  boat,  dipped 
my  head  in  water  among  drowned  musquitoes, 
and  went  forth  upon  the  landing.  The  police 
man  had  just  arrived.  His  eagle  eye  lighted 
upon  a  large  flat  moored  alongside,  on  the  stern 
of  which  was  inscribed  in  chalk,  "Pork,  corn, 
butter,  beef,"  &c.  Several  "spry"  citizens  were 
also  on  the  platform.  After  salutations  and 
compliments,  policeman  speaks — "When  did  she 
come  in?"  (meaning  flat.)  First  citizen — "In 
the  night,  I  guess."  Second  citizen — "There's 
a  lot  of  whisky  aboord,  too."  Policeman  (with 
pleased  surprise) — "  You  never  mean  it  ?"  First 
citizen — "Yes,  sir ;  one  hundred  and  twenty  gal 
lons!"  Policeman  (inspired  by  patriotism) — 
"It's  a  west-country  boat;  why  don't  the  citi 
zens  seize  it?  And  whisky  rising  from  17c.  to 
35c.  a  gallon !"  Citizens  murmur  approval,  and 
I  feel  the  whisky  part  of  the  cargo  is  not  safe. 
"  Yes, sir,"  says  citizen  three,  "they  seize  all  our 
property  at  Cairey  (Cairo),  and  I'm  making  an 
example  of  this  cargo." 

Further  reasons  for  the  seizure  were  adduced, 
and  it  is  probable  they  were  as  strong  as  the 
whisky,  which  has,  no  doubt,  been  drunk  long 
ago  on  the  very  purest  principles.  In  course  of 
conversation  with  the  committee  of  taste  which 
had  assembled,  it  was  revealed  to  me  that  there 
was  a  strict  watch  kept  over  those  boats  which 
are  freighted  with  whisky  forbidden  to  the  slaves, 
and  with  principles,  when  they  come  from  the 
west-country,  equally  objectionable.  "Did  you 
hear,  sir,  of  the  chap  over  at  Duncan  Kenner's, 
as  was  caught  the  other  day  !"  "No,  sir;  what 
was  it?"  "Well,  sir,  he  was  a  man  that  came 
here  and  went  over  among  the  niggers  at  Ken 
ner's  to  buy  their  chickens  from  them.  He  was 
took  up,  and  they  found  he'd  a  lot  of  money 
about  him."  "Well,  of  course,  he  had  money 
to  buy  the  chickens."  "Yes,  sir,  but  it  looked 
suspeec-ious.  He  was  a  west-country  fellow, 
tew,  and  he  might  have  been  tamperin'  with  'em. 
Lucky  for  him  he  was  not  taken  in  the  arter- 
noon."  "Why  so?"  "Because,  if  the  citizens 
had  been  drunk,  they'd  have  hung  him  on  the 
spot." 

The  Acadia  was  now  alongside,  and  in  the 
early  morning  Donaldsonville  receded  rapidly 
into  trees  and  clouds.  To  bed,  and  make  amends 
for  musquito  visits,  and  after  a  long  sleep  look 
out  again  on  the  scene.  It  is  difficult  to  believe 
that  we  have  been  going  eleven  miles  an  hour 
against  the  turbid  river;  which  is  of  the  same 
appearance  as  it  was  below — the  same  banks, 
bends,  driftwood,  and  trees.  Large  timber  rafts, 


navigated  by  a  couple  of  men,  who  stood  in  the 
shade  of  a  few  upright  boards,  were  encountered 
at  long  intervals.  White  egrets  and  blue  herons 
rose  from  the  marshes.  At  every  landing  the 
whites  who  came  down  were  in  some  sort  of 
uniform.  There  were  two  blacks  placed  on 
board  at  one  of  the  landings  in  irons — captured 
runaways — and  very  miserable  they  looked  at 
the  thought  of  being  restored  to  the  bosom  of  •'" 
the  patriarchal  family  from  which  they  had,  no 
doubt,  so  prodigally  eloped.  I  fear  the  fatted 
calf-skin  would  be  applied  to  their  backs. 

June  llth. — Before  noon  the  steamer  hauled 
alongside  a  stationary  hulk  at  Baton  Rouge, 
which  once  "  walked  the  waters"  by  the  aid  of 
machinery,  but  which  was  now  used  as  a  float 
ing  hotel,"  depot,  and  storehouse — 315  feet  long, 
and  fully  thirty  feet  on  the  tipper  deck  above 
the  level  of  the  river.  The  Acadia  stopped,  and 
I  disembarked.  Here  were  my  quarters  till  the 
boat  for  Natchez  should  arrive.  The  proprietor 
of  the  floating  hotel  was  somewhat  excited  be 
cause  one  of  his  servants  was  away.  The  man 
presently  came  in  sight.  "Where  have  you 

been,  you ?"     "  Away  to  buy  de  newspaper, 

Massa."      "For  who,  you  ?"      "Me  buy 

'em  for  no  one,  Massa ;  me  sell  'um  agin,  Mas 
sa."      "See,  now,  you  ,  if  ever  you  goes 

aboard  them  steamers  to  meddle  with  newspa 
pers,  I'm but  I'll  kill  you,  mind  that !" 

Baton  Rouge  is  the  capital  of  the  State  of 
Louisiana,  and  the  State  House  thereof  is  a  very 
quaint  and  very  new  example  of  bad  taste.  The 
Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum  near  it  is  in  a  much 
better  style.  It  was  my  intention  to  have  visit 
ed  the  State  Prison  and  Penitentiary,  but  the 
day  was  too  hot,  and  the  distance  too  great,  and 
so  I  dined  at  the  oddest  little  Creole  restaurant, 
with  the  funniest  old  hostess,  and  the  strangest  ' 
company  in  the  world. 

On  returning  to  the  boat  hotel,  Mr.  Conrad, 
one  of  the  citizens  of  the  place,  and  Mr.  W. 
Avery,  a  judge  of  the  district  court,  were  good 
enough  to  call  and  to  invite  me  to  remain  some 
time,  but  I  was  obliged  to  decline.  These  gen 
tlemen  were  members  of  the  home  guard,  and 
drilled  assiduously  every  evening.  Of  the  1300 
voters  at  Baton  Rouge,  more  than  750  are  al 
ready  off  to  the  wars,  and  another  company  is 
being  formed  to  follow  them.  Mr.  Conrad  has 
three  sons  in  the  field,  and  another  is  anxious 
to  follow,  and  he  and  his  friend,  Mr.  Avery,  are 
quite  ready  to  die  for  the  disunion.  The  waiter 
who  served  out  drinks  in  the  bar  wore  a  uni 
form,  and  his  musket  lay  in  the  corner  among 
the  brandy  bottles.  At  night  a  patriotic  meet 
ing*  of  citizen  soldiery  took  place  in  the  bow, 
with  which  song  and  whisky  had  much  to  do, 
so  that  sleep  was  difficult. 

Precisely  at  seven  o'clock  on  Wednesday 
morning  the  Mary  T.  came  alongside,  and  soon 
afterward  bore  me  on  to  Natchez,  through  scen 
ery  which  became  wilder  and  less  cultivated  as 
she  got  upwards.  Of  the  1500  steamers  on  the 
river,  not  a  tithe  are  now  in  employment,  and 
the  owners  of  these  profitless  flotillas  are  "in  a 
bad  way."  It  was  late  at  night  when  the  steam 
er  arrived  at  Natchez,  and  next  morning  early 
I  took  shelter  in  another  engineless  steamer  be 
side  the  bank  of  the  river  at  Natchez-under-the 
hill,  which  was  thought  to  be  a  hotel  by  its 
owners. 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


In  the  morning  I  asked  for  breakfast.  ' '  There 
is  nothing  for  breakfast ;  go  to  Curry's  on  shore." 
Walk  up  hill  to  Curry's — a  bar-room  occupied 
by  a  waiter  and  flies.  "  Can  I  have  any  break 
fast?"  "No,  sir-ree ;  it's  over  half  an  hour 
ago."  "Nothing  to  eat  at  all?"  "No,  sir." 
"Can  I  get  some  anywhere  else?"  "I  guess 
not."  It  had  been  my  belief  that  a  man  with 
money  in  his  pocket  could  not  starve  in  any 
country  soi-disant  civilized.  I  chewed  the  cud 
of  fancy  faute  de  mieux,  and  became  the  centre 
of  attraction  to  citizens,  from  whose  conversa 
tion  I  learned  that  this  was  "Jeff.  Davis's  fast 
day."  Observed  one,  'flt  quite  puts  me  in 
mind  of  Sunday;  all  the  stores  closed."  Said 
another,  "We'll  soon  have  Sunday  every  day, 
then,  for  I  'spect  it  won't  be  worth  while  for 
most  shops  to  keep  open  any  longer."  Natchez, 
a  place  of  much  trade  and  cotton  export  in  the 
season,  is  now  as  dull — let  us  say,  as  Harwich 
without  a  regatta.  But  it  is  ultra-secessionist, 
nil  obstante. 

My  hunger  was  assuaged  by  Mr.  Marshall, 
who  drove  me  to  his  comfortable  mansion  through 
a  country  like  the  wooded  parts  of  Sussex,  abound 
ing  in  fine  trees,  and  in  the  only  lawns  and  park- 
like  fields  I  have  yet  seen  in  America. 

After  dinner,  my  host  took  me  out  to  visit  a 
wealthy  planter,  who  has  raised  and  armed  a 
cavalry  corps  at  his  own  expense.  We  were 
obliged  to  get  out  of  the  carriage  at  a  narrow 
lane  and  walk  toward  the  encampment  on  foot 
in  the  dark ;  a  sentry  stopped  us,  and  we  ob 
served  that  there  was  a  semblance  of  military 
method  in  the  camp.  The  captain  was  walking 
up  and  down  in  the  verandah  of  the  poor  hut, 
for  which  he  had  abandoned  his  home.  A  book 
of  tactics — Hardee's — lay  on  the  table  of  his  lit 
tle  room.  Our  friend  was  full  of  fight,  and  said 
he  would  give  all  he  had  in  the  world  to  the 
cause.  But  the  day  before,  and  a  party  of 
horse,  composed  of  sixty  gentlemen  in  the  dis 
trict,  worth  from  £20,000  to  £50,000  each,  had 
started  for  the  war  in  Virginia.  Everything  to 
be  seen  or  heard  testifies  to  the  great  zeal  and 
resolution  with  which  the  South  have  entered 
upon  the  quarrel.  But  they  hold  the  power  of 
the  United  States  and  the  loyalty  of  the  North 
to  the  Union  at  far  too  cheap  a  rate. 

Next  day  was  passed  in  a  delightful  drive 
through  cotton-fields,  Indian  corn,  and  undula 
ting  woodlands,  amid  which  were  some  charm 
ing  residences.  I  crossed  the  river  at  Natchez, 
and  saw  one  fine  plantation,  in  which  the  corn, 
however,  was  by  no  means  so  good  as  the  crops 
I  have  seen  on  the  coast.  The  cotton  looks  well, 
and  some  had  already  burst  into  flower — bloom, 
as  it  is  called — which  has  turned  to  a  flagrant 
pink,  and  seems  saucily  conscious  that  its  bell 
will  play  an  important  part  in  the  world. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  tracts  on  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  on  the  island  regions  here 
about,  ought  to  be,  in  the  natural  order  of  things, 
a  people  almost  nomadic,  living  by  the  chase, 
and  by  a  sparse  agriculture,  in  the  freedom  which 
tempted  their  ancestors  to  leave  Europe.  But 
the  Old  World  has  been  working  for  them.  "TATl 
its  trials  have  been  theirs';  the  fruits  of  its  ex 
perience,  its  labours,  its  research,  its  discoveries, 
arc.  theirs.  Steam  has  enabled  them  to  turn 
their  rivers  into  highways,  to  open  primeval  for 
ests  to  the  light  of  day  and  to  man.  All  these, 


m\ 


however,  would  have  availed  them  little  had  not 
the  demands  of  manufacture  abroad,  and  the  in 
creasing  luxury  and  population  of  the  North  and 
West  at  home,  enabled  them  to  find  in  these 
swamps  and  uplands  sources  of  wealth  richer  and 
more  certain  than  all  the  gold  mines  of  the  world. 

There  must  be  gnomes  to  work  these  mines. 
Slavery  was  an  institution  ready  to  their  hands. 
In  its  development  there  lay  every  material 
means  for  securing  the  prosperity  which  Man 
chester  opened  to  them,  and  in  supplying  their 
own  countrymen  with  sugar.  The  small,  strug 
gling,  deeply-mortgaged  proprietors  of  swamp 
and  forest  set  their  negroes  to  work  to  raise 
levees,  to  cut  down  trees,  to  plant  and  sow.  Cot 
ton  at  ten  cents  a  pound  gave  a  nugget  in  every 
boll.  Land  could  be  had  for  a  few  dollars  an »- 
acre.  Negroes  were  cheap  in  proportion.  Men 
who  made  a  few  thousand  dollars  invested  them 
in  more  negroes,  and  more  land,  and  borrowed 
as  much  again  for  the  same  purpose.  They 
waxed  fat  and  rich — there  seemed  no  bounds  to,. 
their  fortune. 

But  threatening  voices  came  from  the  North 
— the  echoes  of  the  sentiments  of  the  civilised 
world  repenting  of  its  evil  pierced  their  ears,  and 
they  found  their  feet  were  of  clay,  and  that  they 
were  nodding  to  their  fall  in  the  midst  of  their 
power.  Ruin  inevitable  awaited  them  if  they 
did  not  shut  out  these  sounds  and  stop  the  fatal 
utterances. 

The  issue  is  to  them  one  of  life  and  death. 
Whoever  raises  it  hereafter,  if  it  be  not  decided 
now,  must  expect  to  meet  the  deadly  animosity 
which  is  now  displayed  towards  the  North.  The 
success  of  the  South — if  they  can  succeed — must 
lead  to  complications  arid  results  in  other  parts 
of  the  world,  for  which  neither  they  nor  Europe 
are  prepared.  Of  one  thing  there  can  be  no 
doubt — a  slave  state  cannot  long  exist  without 
a  slave  trade.  The  poor  whites  who  have  won 
the  fight  will  demand  their  share  of  the  spoils. 
The  land  for  tilth  is  abundant,  and  all  that  is 
wanted  to  give  them  fortunes  is  a  supply  of 
slaves.  They  will  have  that  in  spite  of  their  mas 
ters,  unless  a  stronger  power  than  the  Slave  States 
prevents  the  accomplishment  of  their  wishes. 

The  gentleman  in  whose  house  I  was  stopping 
was  not  insensible  to  the  dangers  of  the  future, 
and  would,  I  think,  like  many  others,  not  at  all 
regret  to  find  himself  and  property  safe  in  En 
gland.  His  father,  the  very  day  of  our  arrival, 
had  proceeded  to  Canada  with  his  daughters, 
but  the  Confederate  authorities  are  now  determ 
ined  to  confiscate  all  property  belonging  to  per 
sons  who  endeavour  to  evade  the  responsibilities 
of  patriotism.  In  such  matters  the  pressure  of 
the  majority  is  irresistible,  and  a  sort  of  mob  law 
supplants  any  remissness  on  the  part  of  the  au 
thorities.  In  the  South,  where  the  deeds  of  the 
land  of  cypress  and  myrtle  are  exaggerated  by 
passion,  this  power  will  be  exercised  very  rigor 
ously.  The  very  language  of  the  people  is  full 
of  the  excesses  generally  accepted  as  types  of 
Americanism.  Taming  over  a  newspaper  this 
morning,  I  came  upon  a  "  card,"  as  it  is  called, 
signed  by  one  "Mr.  Bonner,'"  relating  to  a  dis-. 
pute  between  himself  and  an  Assistant-Quarter- 
Master-General,  about  the  carriage  of  some  wood 
at  Mobile,  which  concludes  with  the  sentence  that 
I  transcribe,  as  an  evidence  of  the  style  which  is 
tolerated,  if  not  admired,  down  South : — 


112 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


"  If  such  a  Shylock-hearted,  caitiff  scoundrel 
does  exist,  give  me  the  evidence,  and  I  will  drag 
him  before  the  bar  of  public  opinion,  and  consign 
him  to  an  infamy  so  deep  and  damnable  that  the 
hand  of  the  Resurrection  will  never  reach  him." 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Down  the  Mississippi— Hotel  at  Yicksburg— Dinner- 
Public  meeting — News  of  the  progress  of  the  war — 
Slavery  and  England— Jackson— Governor  Pettus— 
Insecurity  of  life— Strong  Southern  enthusiasm— Troops 
bound  for  the  North — Approach  to  Memphis — Slaves 
for  sale— Memphis— General  Pillow. 

Friday,  June  14th. — Last  night  with  my  good 
host  from  his  plantation  to  the  great  two-storied 
steamer  General  Quitman,  at  Natchez.  She  was 
crowded  with  planters,  soldiers  and  their  families, 
and  as  the  lights  shone  out  of  her  windows, 
looked  like  a  walled  castle  blazing  from  double 
lines  of  embrasures. 

The  Mississippi  is  assuredly  the  most  uninter 
esting  river  in  the  world,  and  I  can  only  describe 
it  hereabout  by  referring  to  the  account  of  its 
appearance  which  I  have  already  given — not  a 
particle  of  romance  in  spite  of  oratorical  patriots 
and  prophets,  can  ever  shine  from  its  depths, 
sacred  to  cat  and  buffalo  fish,  or  vivify  its  turbid 
waters. 

Before  noon  we  were  in  sight  of  Vicksburg, 
which  is  situated  on  a  high  bank  or  bluff  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  river,  about  400  miles  above  New 
Orleans  and  some  120  miles  from  Natchez. 

Mr.  MacMeekan,  the  proprietor  of  the  "Wash 
ington,"  declares  himself  to  have  been  the 
pioneer  of  hotels  in  the  far  west:  but  he  has  now 
built  himself  this  huge  caravanserai,  and  rests 
from  his  wanderings.  We  entered  the  dining 
saloon,  and  found  the  tables  closely  packed  with 
a  numerous  company  of  every  condition  in  life, 
from  generals  and  planters  down  to  soldiers  in 
the  uniform  of  privates.  At  the  end  of  the  room 
there  was  a  long  table  on  which  the  joints  and 
dishes  were  brought  hot  from  the  kitchen  to  be 
carved  by  the  negro  waiters,  male  and  female, 
and  as  each  was  brought  in  the  proprietor,  stand 
ing  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  shouted  out  with  a 
loud  voice,  "  Now,  then,  here  is  a  splendid  goose ! 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  don't  neglect  the  goose  and 
apple-sauce  I  Here's  a  piece  of  beef  that  /  can 
recommend!  upon  my  honour  you  will  never 
regret  taking  a  slice  of  the  beef.  Oyster-pie ! 
oyster-pie  1  never  was  better  oyster-pie  seen  in 
Vicksburg.  Run  about,  boys,  and  take  orders. 
Ladies  and  gentlemen,  just  look  at  that  turkey ! 
who's  for  turkey?  " — and  so  on,  wiping  the  per 
spiration  from  his  forehead  and  combating  with 
the  flies. 

Altogether  it  was  a  semi-barbarous  scene,  but 
the  host  was  active  and  attentive ;  and  after  all, 
his  recommendations  were  very  much  like  those 
which  it  was  the  habit  of  the  taverners  in  old 
London  to  call  out  in  the  streets  to  the  passers- 
by  when  the  joints  were  ready.  The  little  negroes 
who  ran  about  to  take  orders  were  smart,  but 
now  and  then  came  into  violent  collision,  and 
were  cuffed  incontinently.  One  mild-looking  lit 
tle  fellow  stood  by  my  chair  and  appeared  so  sad 
that  I  asked  him  "Are  you  happy,  my  boy?" 
Ho  looked  quite  frightened.  "  Why  don't  you 
answer  me?"  "I'se  afeered,  sir;  I  can't  tell 
that  to  Massa."  "Is  not  your  master  kind  to 


you?"  "Massa  very  kind  man,  sir;  very  good 
man  when  he  is  not  angry  with  me,"  and  his  eyes 
filled  with  tears  to  the  brim. 

The  war  fever  is  rife  in  Vicksburg,  and  the 
Irish  and  German  labourers,  to  the  extent  of 
several  hundreds,  have  all  gone  off  to  the  war. 

When  dinner  was  over,  the  mayor  and  several 
gentlemen  of  the  city  were  good  enough  to  re 
quest  that  I  would  attend  a  meeting,  at  a  room 
in  the  railway-station,  where  some  of  the  inhabi 
tants  of  the  town  had  assembled.  Accordingly  I 
went  to  the  terminus  and  found  a  room  filled 
with  gentlemen.  Large  china  bowls,  blocks  of 
ice,  bottles  of  wine  and  spirits,  and  boxes  of 
cigars  were  on  the  table,  and  all  the  materials 
for  a  symposium. 

The  company  discussed  recent  events,  some  of 
which  I  learned  for  the  first  time.  Dislike  was 
expressed  to  the  course  of  the  authorities  in  de 
manding  negro  labour  for  the  fortifications  along 
the  river,  and  uneasiness  was  expressed  respect 
ing  a  negro  plot  in  Arkansas ;  but  the  most  inter 
esting  matter  was  Judge  Taney's  protest  against 
the  legality  of  the  President's  course  in  suspend 
ing  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  the  case  of  Mer- 
riman.  The  lawyers  who  were  present  at  this 
meeting  were  delighted  with  his  argument,  which 
insists  that  Congress  alone  can  suspend  the  writ, 
and  that  the  President  cannot  legally  do  so. 

The  news  of  the  defeat  of  an  expedition  from 
Fortress  Monroe  against  a  Confederate  post  at 
Great  Bethel,  has  caused  great  rejoicing.  The 
accounts  show  that  there  was  the  grossest  mis 
management  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  officers. 
The  Northern  papers  particularly  regret  the  loss 
of  Major  Winthrop,  aide-de-camp  to  General  But 
ler,  a  writer  of  promise.  At  four  o'clock  p.  m. 
I  bade  the  company  farewell,  and  the  train  started 
for  Jackson.  The  line  runs  through  a  poor  clay 
country,  cut  up  with  gullies  and  water-courses 
made  by  violent  rain. 

There  were  a  number  of  volunteer  soldiers  in 
the  train ;  and  their  presence  no  doubt  attracted 
the  girls  and  women,  who  waved  flags  and  cheered 
for  Jeff.  Davis  and  States  'Rights.  Well,  as  I 
travel  on  through  such  scenes,  with  a  fine  critical 
nose  in  the  air,  I  ask  myself  "  Is  any  Englishman 
better  than  these  publicans  and  sinners  in  regard 
to  this  question  of  slavery  ? "  It  was  not  on 
moral  or  religious  grounds  that  our  ancestors 
abolished  serfdom.  And  if  to-morrow  our  good 
farmers,  deprived  of  mowers;  reapers,  ploughmen, 
hedgers  and  ditchers,  were  to  find  substitutes  in 
certain  people  of  a  dark  skin  assigned  to  their 
use  by  Act  of  Parliament,  I  fear  they  would  be 
almost  as  ingenious  as  the  Rev.  Dr.  Seabury  in  dis 
covering  arguments  physiological,  ethnological, 
and  biblical  for  the  retention  of  their  property. 
An,d  an  evil  day  would  it  be  for  them  if  they 
were  so  tempted;  for  assuredly,  without  any 
derogation  to  the  intellect  of  the  Southern  men, 
it  may  be  said  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  ^/ 
population  is  in  a  state  of  very  great  moral 
degradation  compared  with  civilised  Anglo-Saxon 
communities. 

The  man  is  more  natural,  and  more  reckless ;  , 
he  has  more  of  the  qualities  of  the  Arab  than  are 
to  be  reconciled  with  civilisation ;  and  it  is  only 
among  the  upper  classes  that  the  influences  of 
the  aristocratic  condition  which  is  generated  by 
the  subjection  of  masses  of  men  to  their  fellow- 
man  are  to  be  found. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


113 


At  six  o'clock  the  train  stopped  in  the  coun 
try  at  &  railway  crossing  by  the  side  of  a  large 
platform.  On  the  right  was  a  common,  bounded 
by  a  few  detached  wooden  houses,  separated  by 
palings  from  each  other,  and  surrounded  by  rows 
of  trees.  In  front  of  the  station  were  two  long 
wooden  sheds,  which,  as  the  signboard  indicates, 
were  exchanges  or  drinking  saloons ;  and  beyond 
these  again  were  visible  some  rudimentary  streets 
of  straggling  houses,  above  which  rose  three  pre 
tentious  spires  and  domes,  resolved  into  insigni 
ficance  by  nearer  approach.  This  was  Jackson. 

Our  host  was  at  the  station  in  his  carriage, 
and  drove  us  to  his  residence,  which  consisted 
of  some  detached  houses  shaded  by  trees  in  a 
small  inclosure,  and  bounded  by  a  kitchen  gar 
den.  He  was  one  of  the  men  who  had  been 
filled  with  the  afflatus  of  1848,  and  joined  the 
Young  Ireland  party  before  it  had  seriously  com 
mitted  itself  to  an  unfortunate  outbreak;  and 
when  all  hope  of  success  had  vanished,  he  sought, 
like  many  others  of  his  countrymen,  a  shelter 
under  the  stars  and  stripes,  which,  like  most  of 
the  Irish  settled  in  Southern  States,  he  was  now 
bent  on  tearing  asunder.  He  has  the  honour  of 
being  mayor  of  Jackson,  and  of  enjoying  a  com 
petitive  examination  with  his  medical  rivals  for 
the  honour  of  attending  the  citizens. 

In  the  evening  I  walked  out  with  him  to  the 
adjacent  city,  which  has  no  title  to  the  name, 
except  as  being  the  State  capital.  The  mush 
room  growth  of  these  States,  using  that  phrase 
merely  as  to  their  rapid  development,  raises  ham 
lets  in  a  small  space  to  the  dignity  of  cities.  It 
is  in  such  outlying  expansion  of  the  great  repub 
lic  that  the  influence  of  the  foreign  emigration 
is  most  forcibly  displayed.  It  would  be  curious 
to  inquire,  for  example,  how  many  men  there  are 
in  the  city  of  Jackson  exercising  mechanical  arts 
or  engaged  in  small  commerce,  in  skilled  or 
manual  labour,  who  are  really  Americans  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word.  I  was  struck  by  the 
names  over  the  doors  of  the  shops,  which  were 
German,  Italian,  French,  and  by  foreign  tongues 
and  accents  in  the  streets  ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  the  native-born  American  who  obtains 
the  highest  political  stations  and  arrogates  to 
himself  the  largest  share  of  governmental  emo 
luments. 

Jackson  proper  consists  of  strings  of  wooden 
houses,  with  white  porticoes  and  pillars  a  world 
too  wide  for  their  shrunk  rooms,  and  various 
religious  and  other  public  edifices,  of  the  hydro- 
cephalic  order  of  architecture,  where  vulgar 
cupola  and  exaggerated  steeple  tower  above  little 
bodies  far  too  feeble  to  support  them.  There 
are  of  course  a  monster  hotel  and  blazing  bar 
rooms — the  former  celebrated  as  the  scene  of 
many  a  serious  difficulty,  out  of  some  of  which 
the  participators  never  escaped  alive.  The  streets 
consist  of  rows  of  houses  such  as  I  have  seen  at 
Macon,  Montgomery,  and  Baton  Rouge ;  and  as 
we  walked  towards  the  capital  or  State-house 
there  were  many  more  invitations  "to  take  a 
drink"  addressed  to  my  friend  and  me  than  we 
were  able  to  comply  with.  Our  steps  were  bent 
to  the  State-house,  which  is  a  pile  of  stone,  with 
open  colonnades,  and  an  air  of  importance  at  a 
distance  which  a  nearer  examination  of  its  dila 
pidated  condition  does  not  confirm.  Mr.  Pettus, 
the  Governor  of  the  State  of  Mississippi,  was  in 
the  Capital ;  and  on  sending  in  our  cards,  we 
II 


were  introduced  to  his  room,  which  certainly 
was  of  more  than  republican  simplicity.  The 
apartment  was  surrounded  with  some  common 
glass  cases,  containing  papers  and  odd  volumes 
of  books ;  the  furniture,  a  table  or  desk,  and  a 
few  chairs  and  a  ragged  carpet ;  the  glass  in  the 
windows  cracked  and  broken ;  the  walls  and  ceil 
ing  discoloured  by  mildew. 

The  Governor  is  a  silent  man,  of  abrupt  speech 
but  easy  of  access ;  and,  indeed,  whilst  we  wer 
speaking,  strangers  and  soldiers  walked  in  an 
out  of  his  room,  looked  around  them,  and  acted 
in  all  respects  as  if  they  were  in  a  public-house, 
except  in  ordering  drinks.  This  grim,  tall,  angu 
lar  man  seemed  to  me  such  a  development  of 
public  institutions  in  the  South  as  Mr.  Seward 
was  in  a  higher  phase  in  the  North.  For  years 
he  hunted  deer  and  trapped  in  the  forest  of  the 
far  west,  and  lived  in  a  Natty  Bumpo  or  David 
Crocket  state  of  life ;  and  he  was  not  ashamed 
of  the  fact  when  taunted  with  it  during  his  elec 
tion  contest,  but  very  rightly  made  the  most  of 
his  independence  and  his  hard  work. 

The  pecuniary  honours  of  his  position  are  not 
very  great  as  Governor  of  the  enormous  State  of 
Mississippi.  He  has  simply  an  income  of  £800 
a  year  and  a  house  provided  for  his  use ;  he  is 
not  only  quiet  contented  with  what  he  has,  but 
believes  that  the  society  in  which  he  lives  is  the 
highest  development  of  civilised  life,  notwith 
standing  the  fact  that  there  are  more  outrages  on 
the  person  in  his  State,  nay,  more  murders  per 
petrated  in  the  very  capital,  than  were  known 
in  the.  worst  days  of  Media3val"Yenice  or  Flo 
rence; — indeed,  as  a  citizen  said  to  me,  "Well, 
I  think  our  average  in  Jackson  is  a  murder  a 
month  ;"  but  he  used  a  milder  name  for  the  crime. 

The  Governor  conversed  on  the  aspect  of 
affairs,  and  evinced  that  wonderful  confidence  in 
his  own  people  which,  whether  it  arises  from 
ignorance  of  the  power  of  the  North,  or  a  con 
viction  of  greater  resources,  is  to  me  so  remark 
able.  "  Well,  sir,"  said  he,  dropping  a  portentous 
plug  of  tobacco  just  outside  the  spittoon,  with 
the  air  of  a  man  who  wished  to  show  he  could 
have  hit  the  centre  if  he  liked,  "England  is  no 
doubt  a  great  country,  and  has  got  fleets  and  the 
like  of  that,»and  may  have  a  good  deal  to  do  in 
Eu-rope ;  but  the  sovereign  State  of  Mississippi 
can  do  a  great  deal  better  without  England  than 
England  can  do  without  her."  Having  some 
slight  recollection  of  Mississippi  repudiation,  in 
which  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  was  so  actively 
engaged,  I  thought  it  possible  that  the  Governor 
might  be  right ;  and  after  a  time  his  Excellency 
shook  me  by  the  hand,  and  I  left,  much  wonder 
ing  within  myself  what  manner  of  men  they 
must  be  in  the  State  of  Mississippi  when  Mr. 
Pettus  is  their  chosen  Governor ;  and  yet,  after 
all,  he  is  honest  and  fierce  ;  and  perhaps  he  is  so 
far  qualified  as  well  as  any  other  man  to  be 
Governor  of  the  State.  There  are  newspapers, 
electric  telegraphs,  and  railways ;  there  are  many 
educated  families,  even  much  good  society,  I  am 
told,  in  the  State ;  but  the  larger  masses  of  the 
people  struck  me  as  being  in  a  condition  no* 
much  elevated  from  that  of  the  original  back 
woodsman.  On  my  return  to  the  Doctor's  house 
I  found  some  letters  which  had  been  forwarded 
to  me  from  New  Orleans  had  gone  astray,  and  I 
was  obliged,  therefore,  to  make  arrangements  for 
my  departure  on  the  following  evening. 


114 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


June  16th. — I  was  compelled  to  send  my  ex 
cuses  to  Governor  Pettus,  and  remained  quietly 
within  the  house  of  my  host,  entreating  him  to 
protect  me  from  visitors  and  especially  from  my 
own  confreres,  that  I  might  secure  a  few  hours 
even  in  that  ardent  heat  to  write  letters  to 
home.  Now,  there  is  some  self-denial  required, 
if  one  be  at  all  solicitous  of  the  popular™  aura,  to 
offeiid  the  susceptibilities  of  the  irritable  genus  in 
America.  It  may  make  all  the  difference  between 
millions  of  people  hearing  and  believing  you  are  a 
high-toned,  whole-souled  gentleman  or  a  wretched 
ignorant  and  prejudiced  John  Bull;  but,  never 
theless,  the  solid  pudding  of  self-content  and  the 
satisfaction  of  doing  one's  work  are  preferable  to 
the  praise  even  of  a  New  York  newspaper  editor. 

"When  my  work  was  over  I  walked  out  and  sat 
in  the  shade  with  a  gentleman  whose  talk  turned 
upon  the  practices  of  the  Mississippi  duello. 
Without  the  smallest  animus,  and  in  the  most 
natural  way  in  the  world,  he  told  us  tale  after 
tale  of  blood,  and  recounted  terrible  tragedies 
enacted  outside  of  bars  of  hotels  and  in  the  public 
streets  close  beside  us.  The  very  air  seemed  to 
become  purple  as  he  spoke,  the  land  around  a 
veritable  "  Aceldama."  There  may,  indeed,  be 
security  for  property,  but  there  is  none  for  the 
life  of  its  owner  in  difficulties,  who  may  be  shot 
by  a  stray  bullet  from  a  pistol  as  he  walks  up  the 
street. 

I  learned  many  valuable  facts.  I  was  warned, 
for  example,  against  the  impolicy  of  trusting  to 
small-bored  pistols  or  to  pocket  six-shooters  in 
case  of  a  close  fight,  because  suppose  you  hit 
your  man  mortally  he  may  still  run  in  upon  you 
and  rip  you  up  with  a  bowie  knife  before  he  falls 
dead;  whereas  if  you  drive  a  good  heavy  bullet 
into  him,  or  make  a  hole  in  him  with  a  "  Derrin 
ger"  ball,  he  gets  faintish  and  drops  at  once. 

Many  illustrations,  too,  were  given  of  the  value 
of  practical  lessons  of  this  sort.  One  particularly 
struck  me.  If  a  gentleman  with  whom  you  are 
engaged  in  altercation  moves  his  hand  towards 
his  breeches  pocket,  or  behind  his  back,  you  must 
smash  him  or  shoot  him  at  once,  for  he  is  either 
going  to  draw  his  six-shooter,  to  pull  out  a  bowie 
knife,  or  to  shoot  you  through  the  lining  of  his  pock 
et.  The  latter  practice  is  considered  rather  ungen- 
tlemanly,  but  it  has  been  somewhat  more  honoured 
lately  in  the  observance  than  in  the  breach.  In 
fact,  the  savage  practice  of  walking  about  with 
pistols,  knives,  and  poniards,  in  bar-rooms  and 
gambling-saloons,  with  passions  ungoverned,  be 
cause  there  is  no  law  to  punish  the  deeds  to 
which  they  lead,  affords  facilities  for  crime  which 
an  uncivilised  condition  of  society  leaves  too  often 
without  punishment,  but  which  must  be  put  down 
or  the  country  in  which  it  is  tolerated  will  become 
as  barbarous  as  a  jungle  inhabited  by  wild  beasts. 

Our  host  gave  me  an  early  dinner,  at  which  I 
met  some  of  the  citizens  of  Jackson,  and  at  six 
o'clock  I  proceeded  by  the  train  for  Memphis. 
The  carriages  were,  of  course,  full  of  soldiers  or 
volunteers,  bound  for  a  large  camp  at  a  place 
called  Corinth,  who  made  night  hideous  by  their 
song  and  cries,  stimulated  by  enormous  draughts 
of  whiskey  and  a  proportionate  consumption  of 
tobacco,  by  teeth  and  by  fire.  The  heat  in  the 
carriages  added  to  the  discomforts  arising  from 
these  causes,  and  from  great  quantities  of  biting 
insects  in  the  sleeping  places.  The  people  have 
all  the  air  and  manner  of  settlers.  Altogether 


the  impression  produced  on  my  mind  was  by  no 
means  agreeable,  and  I  felt  as  if  I  was  indeed  in 
the  land  of  Lynch  law  and  bowie  knives,  where 
the  passions  of  -men  have  not  yet  been  subordi 
nated  to  the  influence  of  the  tribunals  of  justice. 
Much  of  this  feeling  has  no  doubt  been  produced 
by  the  tales  to  which  I  have  been  listening 
around  me — most  of  which  have  a  smack  of  man 
slaughter  about  them. 

June  \1th. — If  it  was  any  consolation  to  me 
that  the  very  noisy  and  very  turbulent  warriors  of 
last  night  were  exceedingly  sick,  dejected,  and 
crestfallen  this  morning,  I  had  it  to  the  full.  Their 
cries  for  water  were  incessant  to  allay  the  inter 
nal  fires  caused  by  "40  rod"  and  "60  rod,"  as 
whiskey  is  called,  which  is  supposed  to  kill  people 
at  those  distances.  Their  officers  had  no  control 
over  them — and  the  only  authority  they  seemed 
to  respect  was  that  of  the  "  gentlemanly  "  con 
ductor  whom  they  were  accustomed  to  fear  indi 
vidually,  as  he  is  a  great  man  in  America  and  has 
much  authority  and  power  to  make  himself  dis 
agreeable  if  he  likes. 

The  victory  at  Big  or  Little  Bethel  has  greatly 
elated  these  men,  and  they  think  they  can  walk 
all  over  the  Northern  States.  It  was  a  relief  to 
get  out  of  the  train  for  a  few  minutes  at  a  station 
called  Holly  Springs,  where  the  passengers  break 
fasted  at  a  dirty  table  on  most  execrable  coffee, 
corn  bread,  rancid  butter,  and  very  dubious  meate, 
and  the  wild  soldiers  outside  made  the  most  of  their 
time,  as  they  had  recovered  from  their  temporary 
depression  by  this  time,  and  got  out  on  the  tops 
of  the  carriages,  over  which  they  performed  tu 
multuous  dances  to  the  music  of  their  band,  and 
the  great  admiration  of  the  surrounding  negro- 
dom.  Their  demeanour  is  very  unlike  that  of  the 
unexcitable  staid  people  of  the  North. 

There  were  in  the  train  some  Texans  who  were 
going  to  Richmond  to  offer  their  servcies  to  Mr. 
Davis.  They  denounced  Sam  Houston  as  a 
traitor,  but  admitted  there  were  some  Unionists, 
or  as  they  termed  them  Lincolnite  skunks,  in  the 
State.  The  real  object  of  their  journey  was,  in 
my  mind,  to  get  assistance  from  the  Southern 
Confederacy  to  put  down  their  enemies  in  Texas. 

In  order  to  conceal  from  the  minds  of  the  people 
that  the  government  at  "Washington  claims  to  be 
that  of  the  United  States,  the  press  politicians 
and  speakers  divert  their  attention  to  the  names 
of  Lincoln,  Seward,  and  other  black  republicans, 
and  class  the  whole  of  the  North  together  as  the 
Abolitionists.  They  call  the  Federal  levies  "  Lin 
coln's  mercenaries"  and  "abolition  hordes," 
though  their  own  troops  are  paid  at  the  same 
rate  as  those  of  the  United  States.  This  is  a  com 
mon  mode  of  procedure  in  revolutions  and  rebel 
lions,  and  is  not  unfreqiient  in  wars. 

The  enthusiasm  for  the  Southern  cause  among 
all  the  people  is  most  remarkable, — the  sight  of 
the  flag  waving  from  the  carriage  windows  drew 
all  the  population  of  the  hamlets  and  the  workers 
in  the  field,  black  and  white,  to  the  side  of  the 
carriages  to  cheer  for  Jeff.  Davis  and  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  and  to  wave  whatever  they  could 
lay  hold  of  in  the  air.  The  country  seems  very 
poorly  cultivated,  the  fields  full  of  stumps  of  trees, 
and  the  plantation  houses  very  indifferent.  At 
every  station  more  "  soldiers,"  as  they  are  called, 
got  in,  till  the  smell  and  heat  were  suffocating. 

These  men  were  as  fanciful  in  their  names  and 
dress  as  could  be.  In  the  train  which  preceded 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


115 


us  there  was  a  band  of  volunteers  armed  with 
rifled  pistols  and  enormous  bowie  knives,  who 
called  themselves  "  The  Toothpick  Company." 
They  carried  along  with  them  a  coffin,  with  a 

plate  inscribed,  "  Abe  Lincoln,  died  ,"  and 

declared  they  were  "  bound  "  to  bring  his  body 
back  in  it,  and  that  they  did  not  intend  to  use 
muskets  or  rifles,  but  just  go  in  with  knife  and 
gix-shooter,  and  whip  the  Yankees  straight  away. 
How  astonished  they  will  be  when  the  first  round 
shot  flies  into  them,  or  a  cap  full  of  grape  rattles 
about  their  bowie  knives. 

At  the  station  of  Grand  Junction,  north  of 
Holly  Springs,  which  latter  is  210  miles  north  of 
Jackson,  several  hundreds  of  our  warrior  friends 
were  turned  out  in  order  to  take  the  train  north 
westward  for  Richmond,  Virginia.  The  1st  Com 
pany,  seventy  rank  and  file,  consisted  of  Irish 
men  armed  with  sporting  rifles  without  bayonets. 
Five-sixths  of  the  2nd  Company,  who  were  arm 
ed  with  muskets,  were  of  the  same  nationality. 
The  3rd  Company  were  all  Americans.  The  4th 
Company  were  almost  all  Irish.  Some  were  in 
green,  others  were  in  grey,  the  Americans  who 
were  in  blue  had  not  yet  received  their  arms. 
When  the  word  fix  bayonets  was  given  by  the 
officer,  a  smart  keen-looking  man,  there  was  an 
astonishing  hurry  and  tumult  in  the  ranks. 

"  Now  then,  Sweeny,  where  are  yes  dhriven 
me  too  ?  It  is  out  of  the  redjmint  amongst  the 
officers  yer  shovhr  me?" 

"  Sullivan,  don't  ye  hear  we're  to  fix  beenits?" 

"  Sarjent,  jewel,  wud  yes  ayse  the  shtrap  of  me 
baynit  ?" 

"  If  ye  prod  me  wid  that  agin,  I'll  let  dayloite 
into  ye." 

The  officer,  reading,  "No.  93,  James  Phelan." 

No  reply. 

Officer  again,  "  No  23,  James  Phelan." 

Voice  from  the  rank,  "  Shure,  captain,  and  faix 
Phelan's  gone,  he  wint  at  the  last  depot." 

"  No.  40,  Miles  Corrigan." 

Voice  further  on,  "  He's  the  worse  for  dhrink 
in  the  cars,  yer  honour,  and  says  he'll  shoot  us  if 
we  touch  him ;"  and  so  on. 

But  these  fellows  were,  nevertheless,  the  ma 
terial  for  fightiug  and  for  marching  after  proper 
drill  and  with  good  officers,  even  though  there 
was  too  large  a  proportion  of  old  men  and  young 
lads  in  the  ranks.  To  judge  from  their  dress 
these  recruits  came  from  the  labouring  and  poor 
est  classes  of  whites.  The  officers  affected  a 
French  cut  and  bearing  with  indifferent  success, 
and  in  the  luggage  vans  there  were  three  foolish 
young  women  with  slop-dress  imitation  clothes 
of  the  Vivandiere  type,  who,  with  dishevelled 
hair,  dirty  faces,  and  dusty  hats  and  jackets, 
looked  sad,  sorry,  and  absurd.  Their  notions  of 
propriety  did  not  justify  them  in  adopting  straps, 
boots,  and  trousers,  and  the  rest  of  the  tawdry 
ill- made  costume  looked  very  bad  indeed. 

The  train  which  still  bore  a  large  number  of 
sokliers  for  the  camp  of  Corinth,  proceeded 
through  dreary  swamps,  stunted  forests,  and 
clearings  of  the  rudest  kind  at  very  long  inter 
vals.  We  had  got  out  of  the  cotton  district  and 
were  entering  poorer  soil,  or  land  which,  when 
cleared,  was  devoted  to'  wheat  and  corn,  and  I 
was  told  that  the  crops  ran  from  forty  to  sixty 
bushels  to  the  acre.  A  more  uninteresting  coun 
try  than  this  portion  of  the  State  of  Mississippi  I 
have  never  witnessed.  There  was  some  variety 


of  scenery  about  Holly  Springs,  where  undulating 
ground  covered  with  wood  diversified  the  aspect 
of  the  flat,  but  since  that  we  have  been  travelling 
through  mile  after  mile  of  insignificantly  grown 
timber  and  swamps. 

On  approaching  Memphis  the  line  ascends  to 
wards  the  bluff  of  the  Mississippi,  and  farms  of  a 
better  appearance  come  in  sight  on  the  side  of 
the  rail ;  but  after  all  I  do  not  envy  the  fate  of 
the  man  who,  surrounded  by  slaves  and  shut  out 
from  the  world,  has  to  pass  his  life  in  this  dismal 
region,  be  the  crops  never  so  good. 

At  a  station  where  a  stone  pillar  marks  the 
limit  between  the  sovereign  State  of  Mississippi 
and  that  of  Tennessee,  there  was  a  house  two 
stories  high,  from  the  windows  of  which  a  num 
ber  of  negro  girls  and  young  men  were  staring 
on  the  passengers.  Some  of  them  smiled,  laugh 
ed,  and  chatted,  but  the  majority  of  them  looked 
gloomy  and  sad  enough.  They  were  packed  as 
close  as  they  could,  and  I  observed  that  at  the 
door  a  very  ruffianly  looking  fellow  in  a  straw 
hat,  long  straight  hair,  flannel  shirt,  and  slippers, 
was  standing  with  his  legs  across  and  a  heavy 
whip  in  his  hand.  One  of  the  passengers  walked 
over  and  chatted  to  him.  They  looked  in  and  up 
at  the  negroes  and  laughed,  and  when  the  man 
came  near  the  carriage  in  which  I  sat,  a  friend 
called  out,  "Whose  are  they,  Sam?"  "He's  a 
dealer  at  Jackson,  Mr.  Smith.  They're  as  prime 
a  lot  of  fine  Virginny  niggers  as  I've  seen  this 
long  time,  and  he  wants  to  realise,  for  the  news 
looks  so  bad." 

It  was  1.40  p.m.  when  the  train  arrived  at 
Memphis.  I  was  speedily  on  my  way  to  the 
Gayoso  House,  so  called  after  an  old  Spanish 
ruler  of  the  district,  which  is  situated  in  the 
street  on  the  bluff,  which  runs  parallel  with  the 
course  of  the  Mississippi.  This  resuscitated 
Egyptian  city  is  a  place  of  importance,  and  ex 
tends  for  several  miles  along  the  high  bank  of 
the  river,  though  it  does  not  run  very  far  back 
The  streets  are  at  right  angles  to  the  principal 
thoroughfares,  which  are  parallel  to  the  stream ; 
and  I  by  no  means  expected  to  see  the  lofty 
stores,  warehouses,  rows  of  shops,  and  handsome 
buildings  on  the  broad  esplanade  along  the  river, 
and  the  extent  and  size  of  the  edifices  public  and 
private  in  this  city,  which  is  one  of  the  develop 
ments  of  trade  and  commerce  created  by  the 
Mississippi.  Memphis  contains  nearly  30,000  in 
habitants,  but  many  of  them  are  foreigners,  and 
there  is  a  nomad  draft  into  and  out  of  the  place, 
which  abounds  in  haunts  for  Bohemians,  drink 
ing  and  dancing-saloons,  and  gaming-rooma. 
And  this  strange  kaleidoscope  of  negroes  and 
whites  of  the  extremes  of  civilisation  in  its  Ame 
rican  development,  and  of  the  semi-savage  de 
graded  by  his  contact  with  the  white ;  of  enor 
mous  steamers  on  the  river,  which  bears  equally 
the  dug-out  or  canoe  of  the  black  fisherman ;  the 
rail,  penetrating  the  inmost  recesses  of  swamps, 
which  on  either  side  of  it  remain  no  doubt  in  the 
same  state  as  they  were  centuries  ago ;  the  roll 
of  heavily-laden  waggons  through  the  streets ; 
the  rattle  of  omnibuses  and  all  the  phenomena 
of  active  commercial  life  before  our  eyes,  includ 
ed  in  the  same  scope  of  vision  which  takes  in  at 
the  other  side  of  the  Mississippi  lands  scarcely 
yet  settled,  though  the  march  of  empire  has  gone 
thousands  of  miles  beyond  them,  amuses  but  per 
plexes  the  traveller  in  this  new  land. 


116 


DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


The  evening  was  so  exceedingly  warm  that  I 
was  glad  to  remain  within  the  walls  of  my  dark 
ened  bed-room.  All  the  six  hundred  and  odd 
guests  whom  the  Gayoso  House  is  said  to  accom 
modate  were  apparently  in  the  passage  at  one 
time.  At  present  it  is  the  headquarters  of  Gene 
ral  Gideon  J.  Pillow,  who  is  charged  with  the 
defences  of  the  Tennessee  side  of  the  river,  and 
commands  a  considerable  body  of  troops  around 
the  city  and  in  the  works  above.  The  house  is 
consequently  filled  with  men  in  uniform,  belong 
ing  to  the  General's  staff  or  the  various  regiments 
of  Tennessee  troops. 

.  The  Governors  and  the  Legislatures  of  the 
States,  view  with  dislike  every  action  on  the  part 
of  Mr.  Davis  which  tends  to  form  the  State  troops 
into  a  national  army.  At  first,  indeed,  the  doc 
trine  prevailed  that  troops  could  not  be  sent 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  State  in  which  they  were 
raised — then  it  was  argued  that  they  ought  not 
to  be  called  upon  to  move  outside  their  borders ; 
arid  I  have  heard  people  in  the  South  inveighing 
against  the  sloth  and  want  of  spirit  of  the  Virgi 
nians,  who  allowed  their  State  to  be  invaded 
without  resisting  the  enemy.  Such  complaints 
were  met  by  the  remark  that  all  the  Northern 
States  had  combined  to  pour  their  troops  into 
Virginia,  and  that  her  sister  States  ought  in 
honour  to  protect  her.  Finally,  the  martial 
enthusiasm  of  the  Southern  regiments  impelled 
them  to  press  forward  to  the  frontier,  and  by 
delicate  management,  and  the  perfect  knowledge 
of  his  countrymen  which  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis 
possesses,  he  is  now  enabled  to  amalgamate  in 
some  sort  the  diverse  individualities  of  his  regi 
ments  into  something  like  a  national  army. 

On  hearing  of  my  arrival,  General  Pillow  sent 
his  aide-de-camp  to  inform  me  that  he  was  about 
starting  in  a  steamer  up  the  river,  to  make  an 
inspection  of  the  works  and  garrison  at  Fort  Ran 
dolph,  and  at  other  points  where  batteries  had 
been  erected  to  command  the  stream,  supported 
by  large  levies  of  Tennesseans.  The  aide-de 
camp  conducted  me  to  the  General,  whom  I  found 
in  his  bedroom,  fitted  up  as  an  office,  littered 
with  plans  and  papers.  Before  the  Mexican  war 
General  Pillow  was  a  flourishing  solicitor,  con 
nected  in  business  with  President  Polk,  and  com 
manding  so  much  influence  that  when  the  expe 
dition  was  formed  he  received  the  nomination  of 
brigadier-general  of  volunteers.  He  served  with 
distinction,  and  was  severely  wounded  at  the 
battle  of  Chapultepee,  and  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  campaign  he  retired  into  civil  life,  and  was 
engaged  directing  the  work  of  his  plantation  till 
this  great  rebellion  summoned  him  once  more  to 
the  field. 

Of  course  there  is,  and  must  be,  always  an  in 
clination  to  deride  these  volunteer  officers  on  the 
part  of  regular  soldiers ;  and  I  was  informed  by 
one  of  the  officers  in  attendance  on  the  General, 
that  he  had  made  himself  ludicrously  celebrated 
in  Mexico  for  having  undertaken  to  throw  up  a 
battery  which,  when  completed,  was  found  to 
face  the  wrong  way,  so  that  the  guns  were  ex 
posed  to  the  enemy.  General  Pillow  is  a  small, 
compact,  clear-complexioned  man,  with  short 
grey  whiskers,  cut  in  the  English  fashion,  a  quick 
eye,  and  a  pompous  manner  of  speech ;  and  I 
had  not  been  long  in  his  company  before  I  heard 
of  Chapultepee  and  his  wound,  which  causes  him 
to  limp  a  little  in  his  walk,  and  gives  him  incon 


venience  in  the  saddle.  He  wore  a  round  black 
hat,  plain  blue  frock  coat,  dark  trousers,  and 
brass  spurs  on  his  boots ;  but  no  signs  of  mili 
tary  rank.  The  General  ordered  carriages  to  the 
door,  and  we  went  to  see  the  batteries  on  the 
bluff  or  front  of  the  esplanade,  which  are  intended 
to  check  any  ship  attempting  to  pass  down  the 
river  from  Cairo,  where  the  Federals  under  Gene 
ral  Prentiss  have  entrenched  themselves,  and  are 
understood  to  meditate  an  expedition  against  the 
city.  A  parapet  of  cotton  bales,  covered  with 
tarpaulin,  has  been  erected  close  to  the  edge  of 
the  bank  of  earth,  which  rises  to  heights  varying 
from  60  to  100  feet  almost  perpendicularly  from 
the  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  with  zigzag  roads 
running  down  through  it  to  the  landing-places. 
This  parapet  could  offer  no  cover  against  vertical 
fire,  and  is  so  placed  that  well-directed  shell  into 
the  bank  below  it  would  tumble  it  all  into  the 
water.  The  zigzag  roads  are  barricaded  with 
weak  planks,  which  would  be  shivered  to  pieces 
by  boat-guns;  and  the  assaulting  parties  could 
easily  mount  through  these  covered  ways  to  the 
fear  of  the  parapet,  and  up  to  the  very  centre  of 
the  esplanade. 

The  blockade  of  the  river  at  this  point  is  com 
plete  ;  not  a  boat  is  permitted  to  pass  either  up 
or  down.  At  the  extremity  of  the  esplanade,  on 
an  angle  of  the  bank,  an  earthen  battery,  mount 
ed  with  six  heavy  guns,  has  been  thrown  up, 
which  has  a  fine  command  of  the  river ;  and  the 
General  informed  me  he  intends  to  mount  six 
teen  guns  in  addition,  on  a  prolongation  of  the 
face  of  the  same  work. 

The  inspection  over,  we  drove  down  a  steep 
road  to  the  water  beneath,  where  the  Ingomar,  a 
large  river  steamer,  now  chartered  for  the  ser 
vice  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  was  lying  to  re 
ceive  us.  The  vessel  was  crowded  with  troops 
— all  volunteers,  of  course — about  to  join  those 
in  camp.  Great  as  were  their  numbers,  the  pro 
portion  of  the  officers  was  inordinately  large,  and 
the  rank  of  the  greater  number  preposterously 
high.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  I  was  introduced  to 
a  battalion  of  colonels,  and  that  I  was  not  per- 
mitted  to  pierce  to  any  lower  strata  of  military 
rank.  I  counted  seventeen  colonels,  and  believe 
the  number  was  not  then  exhausted. 

General  Clarke,  of  Mississippi,  who  had  come 
over  from  the  camp  at  Corinth,  was  on  board, 
and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  making  his  acquaint 
ance.  He  spoke  with  sense  and  firmness  of  the 
present  troubles,  and  dealt  with  the  political  dif% 
flculties  in  a  tone  of  moderation  which  bespoke  a 
gentleman  and  a  man  of  education  and  thought. 
He  also  had  served  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  had 
the  air  and  manner  of  a  soldier.  "With  all  hia 
quietness  of  tone,  there  was  not  the  smallest  dis 
position  to  be  traced  in  his  words  to  retire  from 
the  present  contest,  or  to  consent  to  a  reunion 
with  the  United  States  under  any  circumstances 
whatever.  Another  general,  of  a  very  different 
type,  was  among  our  passengers — a  dirty-faced, 
frightened-looking  young  man,  of  some  twenty- 
three  or  twenty-four  years  of  age,  redolent  of 
tobacco,  his  chin  and  shirt  slavered  by  its  foul 
juices,  dressed  in  a  green  cutaway  coat,  white 
jean  trousers,  strapped  under  a  pair  of  prunella 
slippers,  in  which  he  promenaded  the  deck  in  an 
Agag-like  manner,  which  gave  rise  to  a  suspicion 
of  bunions  or  corns.  This  strange  figure  was 
topped  by  a  tremendous  black  felt  sombrero, 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


117 


looped  up  at  one  side  by  a  gilt  eagle,  in  which  over  at  the  time  to  England.     Certainly,  a  more 

was  stuck  a  plume  of  ostrich  feathers,  and  from  extraordinary  maze  could  not  be  conceived,  even 

the  other  side  dangled  a  heavy  gold  tassel.    This  in  the  dreams  of  a  sick  engineer — a  number  of 

decrepit  young  warrior's  name  was  Ruggles  or  mad  beavers  might  possibly  construct  such  dams. 

Struggles,  who  came  from  Arkansas,  where  he  They  were  so  ingeniously  made  as  to  prevent  the 

passed,  I  was  informed,  for  "  quite  a  leading  citi-  troops  engaged  in  their  defence  from  resisting  the 

zen."  enemy's   attacks,    or   getting  away   from    them 

Our  V03rage  as  we  steamed  up  the  river  afforded  when  the  assailants  had  got  inside — most  difficul 

10  novelty,  nor  any  physical  difference  worthy  of  and  troublesome  to  defend,  and  still  more  diffi 
remark,  to  contrast  it  with  the  lower  portions  of 
the  stream,  except  that  upon  our  right  hand  side, 
which  is,  in  effect,  the  left  bank,  there  are  ranges 
of  exceedingly  high  bluffs,  some  parallel  with  and 
others  at  right  angles  to  the  course  of  the  stream. 
The  river  is  of  the  same  pea-soup  colour  with 
the  same  masses  of  leaves,  decaying  vegetation, 
stumps  of  trees,  forming  small  floating  islands,  or 
giant  cotton-trees,  pines,  and  balks  of  timber 
whirling  down  the  current.  Our  progress  was 

slow ;  nor  did  I  regret  the  captain's  caution,  as  will  prevent  yo'ur  seeing  the  shot."     To  which 

there  must  have  been  fully  nine  hundred  persons  the  General  replied,  "  No,  sir,"  in  a  tone  which 

on  board ;  and  although  there  is  but  little  danger  indicated,  "  I  beg  you  to  understand  I  have  been 

of  being  snagged  in  the  present  condition  of  the  wounded  in   Mexico,  and  know   all   about  this 

river,  we  encountered  now  and  then  a  trunk  of  a  kind  of  thing."     "  Fire,"  the  string  was  pulled, 

tree,  which  struck  against  the  bows  with  force  and  out  of  the  touch-hole  popped  a  piece  of  metal 

^mrviirvVi   fr\  molro  fVio    Troocol     rmi^rpr    frr*m     oftim     fri  wltll  Si  llttlG  cllirrUD          '*  T^n-nn    *-K/-\rn-\  fV«;,-v4-J<-v«   •*••« 


cult  for  the  defenders  to  leave,  the  latter  perhaps 
being  their  chief  merit. 

The  General  ordered  some  practice  to  be  made 
with  round  shot  down  the  river.  An  old  forty- 
two  pound  carronade  was  loaded  with  some  dif 
ficulty,  and  pointed  at  a  tree  about  1700  yards — 
which  I  was  told,  however,  was  not  less  than 
2500  yards — distant.  The  General  and  his  staff 
took  their  posts  on  the  parapet  to  leeward,  and  I 
ventured  to  say,  "I  think,  General,  the  smoke 


enough  to  make  the  vessel  quiver  from  stem  to 
stern.  I  was  furnished  with  a  small  berth,  to 
which  I  retired  at  midnight,  just  as  the  Ingomar 
was  brought  to  at  the  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  above 
which  lies  Camp  Randolph. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Camp  Randolph — Cannon  practice — Volunteers— "Dixie" 
— Forced  roturn  from  the  South— Apathy  of  the  North 
— General  retrospect  of  politics — Energy  and  earnest 
ness  of  the  South — Fire-arms' — Position  of  Great  Bri 
tain  towards  the  belligerents — Feeling  towards  the  Old 
Country. 

June  ISth. — On  looking  out  of  my  cabin  window 
this  morning  I  found  the  steamer  fast  alongside  a 
small  wharf,  above  which  rose,  to  the  height  of 
150  feet,  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees,  the  rugged 
bluff  already  mentioned.  The  wharf  was  covered 
with  commissariat  stores  and  ammunition.  Three 
heav}7  guns,  which  some  men  were  endeavouring 
to  sling  to  rude  bullock-carts,  in  a  manner  defiant 
of  all  the  laws  of  gravitation,  seemed  likely  to  go 
slap  into  the  water  at  every  moment ;  but  of  the 
many  great  strapping  fellows  who  were  lounging 
about,  not  one  gave  a  hand  to  the  working  party. 
A  dusty  track  woundup  the  hill  to  the  brow,  and 
there  disappeared ;  and  at  the  height  of  fifty  feet 
or  so  above  the  level  of  the  river  two  earthworks 
had  been  rudely  erected  in  an  ineffective  position. 
The  volunteers  who  were  lounging  about  the  edge 
of  the  stream  were  dressed  in  different  ways,  and 
had  no  uniform. 

Already  the  heat  of  the  sun  compelled  me  to 
seek  the  shade;  and  a  number  of  the  soldiers, 
labouring  under  the  same  infatuation  as  that 
which  induces  little  boys  to  disport  themselves  in 
the  Thames  at  Waterloo  Bridge,  under  the  notion 
that  they  are  washing  themselves,  were  swim 
ming  about  in  a  back-water  of  the  great  river, 
regardless  of  cat-fish,  mud1,  and  fever. 

General  Pillow  proceeded  on  shore  after  break 
fast,  and  we  mounted  the  coarse  cart-horse  char 
gers  which  were  in  waiting  at  the  jetty  to  receive 
us.  It  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  transcribe  from 
my  diary  a  description  of  the  works,  which  I  sent  weedy  old  man  or  a  growing"  lad. 


Darn  these  friction  tubes ! 

I  prefer  the  linstock  and  match,"  quoth  one  of 
the  staff,  sotto  voce,  "  but  General  Pillow  will 
have  us  use  friction  tubes  made  at  Memphis,  that 
ar'nt  worth  a  cuss."  Tube  No.  2,  however,  did 
explode,  but  where  the  ball  went  no  one  could 
say,  as  the  smoke  drifted  right  into  our  eyes. 

The  General  then  moved  to  the  other  side  of 
the  gun,  which  was  fired  a  third  time,  the  shot 
falling  short  in  good  line,  but  without  any  rico 
chet.  Gun  No.  3  was  next  fired.  Off  went  the 
ball  down  the  river,  but  off  went  the  gun,  too, 
and  with  a  frantic  leap  it  jumped,  carriage  and 
all,  clean  off  the  platform.  Nor  was  it  at»all 
wonderful,  for  the  poor  old-fashioned  chamber 
cannonade  had  been  loaded  with  a  charge  and  a 
solid  shot  heavy  enough  to  make  it  burst  with 
indignation.  Most  of  us  felt  relieved  when  the 
firing  was  over,  and,  for  my  own  part,  I  would 
much  rather  have  been  close  to  the  target  than 
to  the  battery. 

Slowly  winding  for  some  distance  up  the  steep 
road  in  a  blazing  sun,  we  proceeded  through  the 
tents,  which  are  scattered  in  small  groups,  for 
health's  sake,  fifteen  and  twenty  together,  on  the 
wooded  plateau  above  the  river.  The  tents  are 
of  the  small  ridge-pole  pattern,  six  men  to  each, 
many  of  whom,  from  their  exposure  to  the  sun, 
whilst  working  in  these  trenches,  and  from  the 
badness  of  the  water,  had  already  been  laid  up 
with  illness.  As  a  proof  of  General  Pillow's  en 
ergy,  it  is  only  fair  to  say  he  is  constructing,  on 
the  very  summit  of  the  plateau,  large  cisterns, 
which  will  be  filled  with  water  from  the  river  by 
steam  power. 

The  volunteers  were  mostly  engaged  at  drill  in 
distinct  companies,  but  by  order  of  the  General 
some  700  or  800  of  them  were  formed  into  line 
for  inspection.  Many  of  these  men  were  in  their 
shirt  sleeves,  and  the  awkwardness  with  which 
they  handled  their  arms  showed  that,  however 
good  they  might  be  as  shots,  they  were  bad  hands 
at  manual  platoon  exercise ;  but  such  great  strap 
ping  fellows,  that,  as  I  walked  down  the  ranks, 
there  were  few  whose  shoulders  were  not  above 
the  level  of  my  head,  excepting  here  and  there  a 

They  were 


118 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


armed  with  old  pattern  percussion  muskets,  no  Queen  ;"  and  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  the  loyalty 
two  clad  alike,  many  very  badly  shod,  few  with  which  induced  me  to  stand  in  the  sun,  with  un- 
knapsacks,  but  all  provided  with  a  tin  water-flask  covered  head,  till  the  musicians  were  good  enough 
and  a  blanket.  These  men  have  been  only  five  to  desist,  was  appreciated.  Certainly  a  gentle- 
weeks  enrolled,  and  were  called  out  by  the  State  man,  who  asked  me  why  I  did  so,  looked  very 
of  Tennessee,  in  anticipation  of  the  vote  of  seces-  incredulous,  and  said  "  That  he  could  understand 
sion.  it  if  it  had  been  in  a  church  ;  but  that  he  would 

I  could  get  no  exact  details  as  to  the  supply  of  not  broil  his  skull  in  the  sun,  not  if  General  Wash- 
food,  but  from  the  Quartermaster-General  I  heard  ington  was  standing  just  before  him."  The  Gene- 
that  each  man  had  from  f  Ib.  to  1£  Ib.  of  meat,  ral  gave  orders  to  exercise  the  battery  at  this 
and  a  sufficiency  of  bread,  sugar,  coffee,  and  rice,  point,  and  a  working  party  was  told  off  to  firing 
daily;  however,  these  military  Olivers  "  asked  for  drill.  'Twas  fully  six  minutes  between  the  giv- 
more."  Neither  whisky  nor  tobacco  was  served  ing  of  the  orders  and  the  first  gun  being  ready, 
out  to  them,  which  to  such  heavy  consumers  of  On  the  word  "fire"  being  given,  the  gunner 
both,  must  prove  one  source  of  dissatisfaction. 
The  officers  were  plain,  farmerly  planters,  mer 
chants,  lawyers,  and  the  like— energetie,  deter 
mined  men,  but  utterly  ignorant  of  the  most  ru 
dimentary  parts  of  military  science.  It  is  this 
want  of  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  officer  which 
renders  it  so  difficult  to  arrive  at  a  tolerable  con 
dition  of  discipline  among  volunteers,  as  the  pri 
vates  are  quite  well  aware  they  know  as  much 


of  soldiering  as  the  great  majority  of  their  officers. 
Having  gone  down  the  lines  of  these  motley 
companies,  the  General  addressed  them  in  a  ha 
rangue  in  which  he  expatiated  on  their  patriot 
ism,  on  their  courage,  and  the  atrociiy  of  the  ene 
my,  in  an  odd  farrago  of  military  and  political 
subjects.  But  the  only  matter  which  appeared 
to  interest  them  much  was  the  announcement 
that  they  would  be  released  from  work  in  another 
day  or  so,  and  that  negroes  would  be  sent  to  per- 


pulled  the  lanyard,  but  the  tube  did  not  explode ; 
a  second  tube  was  inserted,  but  a  strong  jerk 
pulled  it  out  without  exploding;  a  third  time  one 
of  the  General's  fuses  was  applied,  which  gave 
way  to  the  pull,  and  was  broken  in  two ;  a  fourth 
time  was  more  successful — the  gun  exploded,  and 
the  shot  fell  short  and  under  the  mark— in  fact, 
nothing  could  be  worse  than  the  artillery  practice 
which  I  saw  here  and  a  fleet  of  vessels  coming 
down  the  river  might,  in  the  present  state  of  the 
garrisons,  escape  unhurt. 

There  are  no  disparts,  tangents,  or  elevating 
screws  to  the  guns,  which  are  laid  by  eye  and 
wooden  chocks.  I  could  see  no  shells  in  the  bat 
tery,  but  was  told  there  were  some  in  the  maga 
zine. 

Altogether,  though  Randolph's  Point  and  Fort 
Pillow  afford  strong  positions,  in  the  present  state 
of  the  service,  and  equipment  of  guns  and  works. 


form  all  that  was  required.     This  announcement    gunboats  could  run  past  them  without  serious 


was  received  with  the  words,  "Bully  for  us!" 
and  "That's  good."  And  when  General  Pillow 
wound  up  a  florid  peroration  by  assuring  them, 
"  When  the  hour  of  danger  comes  I  will  be  with 
yc»,"  the  effect  was  by  no  means  equal  to  his 
expectations.  The  men  did  not  seem  to  care 
much  whether  General  Pillow  was  with  them  or 
wot  at  that  eventful  moment;  and,  indeed,  all 
dusty  as  he  was  in  his  plain  clothes  he  did  not 
look  very  imposing,  or  give  one  an  idea  that  he 
would  contribute  much  to  the  means  of  resist 
ance.  However,  one  of  the  officers  called  out, 
"  Boys,  three  cheers  for  General  Pillow." 

What  they  may  do  in  the  North  I  know  not, 
but  certainly  the  Southern  soldiers  cannot  cheer, 
and  what  passes  muster  for  that  jubilant  sound  is 
a  shrill  ringing  scream  with  a  touch  of  the  Indian 
war-whoop  in  it.  As  these  cries  ended,  a  sten 
torian  voice  shouted  out,  "  Who  cares  for  Gene 
ral  Pillow  ?"  No  one  answered ;  whence  I  in 
ferred  the  General  would  not  be  very  popular 
until  the  niggers  were  actually  at  work  in  the 
trenches 

We  returned  to  the  steamer,  headed  up  stream 
and  proceeded  onwards  for  more  than  an  hour,  to 
another  landing,  protected  by  a  battery,  where 
we  disembarked,  the  General  being  received  by 
a  guard  dressed  in  uniform,  who  turned  out  with 
some  appearance  of  soldierly  smartness.  On  my 
remarking  the  difference  to  the  General,  he  told 
me  the  corps  encamped  at  this  point  was  com 
posed  of  gentlemen  planters,  and  farmers.  They 
had  all  clad  themselves,  and  consisted  of  some  of 
the  best  families  in  the  State  of  Tennessee. 

As  we  walked  down  the  gangway  to  the  shore, 
the  band  on  the  upper  deck  struck  up,  out  of 
compliment  to  the  English  element  in  the  party, 
the  unaccustomed  strains  of  "God  save  the 


loss,  and,  as  the  river  falls,  the  fire  of  the  batte 
ries  will  be  even  less  effective. 

On  returning  to  the  boats  the  band  struck  up 
"  The  Marseillaise"  and  "  Dixie's  Land."  There 
are  two  explanations  of  the  word  Dixie — one  is 
that  it  is  the  general  term  for  the  Slave  States, 
which  are,  of  course,  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon'a 
line ;  another,  that  a  planter  named  Dixie,  died 
long  ago,  to  the  intense  grief  of  his  animated 
property.  Whether  they  were  ill-treated  after  he 
died,  and  thus  had  reason  to  regret  his  loss,  or 
that  they  had  merely  a  longing  in  the  abstract 
after  Heaven,  no  fact  known  to  me  can  determine; 
but  certain  it  is  that  they  long  much  after  Dixie, 
in  the  land  to  which  his  spirit  was  supposed  by 
them  to  have  departed,  and  console  themselves  in 
their  sorrow  by  clamorous  wishes  to  follow  their 
master,  where  probably  the  revered  spirit  would 
be  much  surprised  to  find  himself  in  their  compa 
ny.  The  song  is  the  work  of  the  negro  melodists 
of  New  York. 

In  the  afternoon  we  returned  to  Memphis. 
Here  I  was  obliged  to  cut  short  my  Southern 
tour,  though  I  would  willingly  have  stayed,  to 
have  seen  the  most  remarkable  social  and  politi 
cal  changes  the  world  has  probably  ever  witness 
ed.  The  necessity  of  my  position  obliged  me  to 
return  northwards — unless  I  could  write,  there 
was  no  use  in  my  being  on  the  spot  at  all.  By 
this  time  the  Federal  fleets  have  succeeded  in 
closing  the  ports,  if  not  effectually,  so  far  as  to 
render  the  carriage  of  letters  precarious,  and  the 
route  must  be  at  best  devious  and  uncertain. 

Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  was,  I  was  assured,  pre 
pared  to  give  me  every  facility  at  Richmond  to 
enable  me  to  know  and  to  see  all  that  was  most 
interesting  in  the  military  and  political  action  of 
the  New  Confederacy ;  but  of  what  use  could 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


119 


this  knowledge  be  if  I  could  not  communicate  it 
to  the  journal  I  served? 

I  had  left  the  North  when  it  was  suffering 
from  a  political  paralysis,  and  was  in  a  state  of 
coma  in  which  it  appeared  conscious  of  the  com 
ing  convulsion,  but  unable  to  avert  it.  The  sole 
sign  of  life  in  the  body  corporate  was  some  feeble 
twitching  of  the  limbs  at  Washington,  when  the 
district  militia  were  called  out,  whilst  Mr.  Sew- 
ard  descanted  on  the  merits  of  the  Inaugural, 
and  believed  that  the  anger  of  the  South  was  a 
short  madness,  which  would  be  cured  by  a  mild 
application  of  philosophical  essays. 

The  politicians,  who  were  urging  in  the  most 
forcible  manner  the  complete  vindication  of  the 
rights  of  the  Union,  were  engaged,  when  I  left 
them,  arguing  that  the  Union  had  no  rights  at  all 
as  opposed  to  those  of  the  States.  Men  who  had 
heard  with  nods  of  approval  of  the  ordinance  of 
secession  passed  by  State  after  State  were  now 
shrieking  out,  "  Slay  the  traitors!" 

The  printed  rags  which  had  been  deriding  the 
President  as  the  great  "  rail  splitter,"  and  his 
Cabinet  as  a  collection  of  ignoble  fanatics,  were 
now  heading  the  popular  rush,  arid  calling  out  to 
the  country  to  support  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  Minis 
try,  and  were  menacing  with  war  the  foreign 
States  which  dared  to  stand  neutral  in  the  quar 
rel.  The  declaration  of  Lord  John  Russell  that 
the  Southern  Confederacy  should  have  limited 
belligerent  rights  had  at  first  created  a  thrill  of 
exultation  in  the  South,  because  the  politicians 
believed  that  in  this  concession  was  contained 
the  principle  of  recognition ;  while  it  had  stung 
to  fury  the  people  of  the  North,  to  whom  it 
seemed  the  first  warning  of  the  coming  disunion. 

Much,  therefore,  as  I  desired  to  go  to  Rich 
mond,  where  I  was  urged  to  repair  by  many  con 
siderations,  and  by  the  earnest  appeals  of  those 
around  me,  I  felt  it  would  be  impossible,  notwith 
standing  the  interest  attached  to  the  proceedings 
there,  to  perform  my  duties  in  a  place  cut  off 
from  all  communication  with  the  outer  world; 
and  so  I  decided  to  proceed  to  Chicago,  and 
thence  to  Washington,  where  the  Federals  had 
assembled  a  large  army,  with  the  purpose  of 
marching  upon  Richmond,  in  obedience  to  the 
cry  of  nearly  every  journal  of  influence  in  the 
Northern  cities. 

My  resolution  was  mainly  formed  in  conse 
quence  of  the  intelligence  which  was  communi 
cated  to  me  at  Memphis,  and  I  told  General  Pil 
low  that  I  would  continue  my  journey  to  Cairo, 
in  ordor  to  get  within  the  Federal  lines.  As  the 
river  was  blockaded,  the  only  means  of  doing  so 
was  to  proceed  by  rail  to  Columbus,  and  thence 
to  take  a  steamer  to  the  Federal  position ;  and 
so,  whilst  the  General  was  continuing  his  inspec 
tion,  I  rode  to  the  telegraph  office,  in  one  of  the 
camps,  to  order  my  luggage  to  be  prepared  for 
departure  as  soon  as  I  arrived,  and  thence  went 
on  board  the  steamer,  where  I  sat  down  in  the 
cabin  to  write  my  last  despatch  from  Dixie. 

So  far  I  had  certainly  no  reason  to  agree  with 
Mr.  Seward  in  thinking  this  rebellion  was  the 
result  of  a  localised  energetic  action  on  the  part 
of  a  fierce  minority  in  the  seceding  States,  and 
that  there  was  in  each  a  large,  if  inert,  mass  op 
posed  to  secession,  which  would  rally  round  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  the  instant  they  were  displayed 
in  their  sight.  On  the  contrary,  1  met  every 
where  with  but  one  feeling,  with  exceptions 


which  prove  its  unanimity  and  its  force.  To  a 
man  the  people  went  with  their  States,  and  had 
but  one  battle-cry,  "  States'  rights,  and  death  to 
those  who  make  war  against  them  1" 

Day  after  day  I  had  seen  this  feeling  intensi 
fied  by  the  accounts  which  came  from  the  North 
of  a  fixed  determination  to  maintain  the  war 
and  day  after  day,  I  am  bound  to  add,  the  im 
pression   on   my   mind   was    strengthened   tha 
"  States'  rights"  meant  protection  to  slavery,  ex-/ 
tension  of  slave  territory,  arid  free-trade  in  slave\ 
produce  with  the  outer  world ;  nor  was  it  any 
argument  against  the  conclusion  that  the  popular  j 
passion  gave  vent  to  the  most  vehement  outcries 
against  Yankees,  abolitionists,  German  mercena 
ries,  and  modern  invasion.     I  was  fully  satisfied 
in  my  mind  also  that  the  population  of  the  South, 
who  had  taken  up  arms,  were  so  convinced  of  the 
righteousness  of  their  cause,  and  so  competent  to 
vindicate   it,    that   they   would   fight   with   the 
utmost  energy  and  valour  in  its  defence  and  suc 
cessful  establishment. 

The  saloon  in  which  I  was  sitting  afforded 
abundant  evidence  of  the  vigour  with  which  the 
South  are  entering  upon  the  contest.  Men  of 
every  variety  and  condition  of  life  had  taken  up 
arms  against  the  cursed  Yankee  and  the  black 
Republican — there  was  not  a  man  there  who 
would  not  have  given  his  life  for  the  rare  pleasure 
of  striking  Mr.  Lincoln's  head  off  his  shoulders, 
and  yet  to  a  cold  European  the  scene  was  almosl 
ludicrous. 

Along  the  covered  deck  lay  tall  Tennesseans, 
asleep,  whose  plumed  felt  hats  were  generally  the 
only  indications  of  their  martial  calling,  for  few 
indeed  had  any  other  signs  of  uniform,  except  th 
rare  volunteers,  who  wore  stripes  of  red  and  yel 
low  cloth  on  their  trousers,  or  leaden  buttons, 
and  discoloured  worsted  braid  and  facings  on 
their  jackets.  The  afterpart  of  the  saloon  deck 
was  appropriated  to  General  Pillow,  his  staff,  and 
officers.  The  approach  to  it  was  guarded  by  a 
sentry,  a  tall,  good-looking  young  fellow,  in  a 
grey  flannel  shirt,  grey  trousers,  fastened  with  a 
belt  and  a  brass  buckle,  inscribed  U.S.,  which 
came  from  some  plundered  Federal  arsenal,  and  a 
black  wide-awake  hat,  decorated  with  a  green 
plume.  His  Enfield  rifle  lay  beside  him  on  the 
deck,  and,  with  great  interest  expressed  on  his 
face,  he  leant  forward  in  his  rocking-chair  to 
watch  the  varying  features  of  a  party  squatted  on 
the  floor,  who  were  employed  in  the  national 
game  of  il  Euchre."  As  he  raised  his  eyes  to  ex 
amine  the  condition  of  the  cigar  he  was  smoking, 
he  caught  sight  of  me,  and  by  the  simple  expedi 
ent  of  holding  his  leg  across  my  chest,  and  calling 
out,  "  Hallo !  where  are  you  going  to  ?"  brought 
me  to  a  standstill — whilst  his  captain,  who  was 
one  of  the  happy  euchreists,  exclaimed,  "  Now, 
Sam,  you  let  nobody  go  in  there." 

I  was  obliged  to  explain  who  I  was,  whereupon 
the  sentry  started  to  his  feet,  and  said,  "Oh!  in 
deed,  you  are  Russell  that's  been  in  that  war 
with  the  Rooshians.  Well,  I'm  very  muck 
pleased  to  know  you.  I  shall  be  off  sentry  in  a 
few  minutes ;  I'll  just  ask  you  to  tell  me  some 
thing  about  that  fighting."  He  held  out  his  hand, 
and  shook  mine  warmly  as  he  spoke.  There  was 
not  the  smallest  intention  to  offend  in  his  man 
ner;  but,  sitting  down  again,  he  nodded  to  the 
captain,  and  said,  "It's  all  right;  it's  Pillow's 
friend — that's  Russell  of  the  London  Times" 


120 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


The  game  of  euchre  was  continued — and  indeed 
it  had  been  perhaps  all  night — for  my  last  recol 
lection  on  looking  out  of  my  cabin  was  a  number 
of  people  playing  cards  on  the  floor  and  on  the 
tables  all  down  the  saloon,  and  of  shouts  of  "Eu- 
kerr!"  "Ten  dollars,  you  don't!"  "I'll  lay 
twenty  on  this  1"  and  so  on ;  and  with  breakfast 
the  sport  seemed  to  be  fully  revived. 

There  would  have  been  much  more  animation 
in  the  game,  no  doubt,  had  the  bar  on  board 
the  Ingomar  been  opened;  but  the  intelligent 
gentleman  who  presided  inside  had  been  re 
stricted  by  General  Pillow  in  his  avocations; 
and  when  numerous  thirsty  souls  from  the  camps 
came  on  board,  with  dry  tongues  and  husky 
voices,  and  asked  for  "  mint  juleps,"  "  brandy 
smashes,"  or  "  whisky  cocktails,"  he  seemed  to 
take  a  saturnine  pleasure  by  saying,  "  The  Gene 
ral  won't  allow  no  spirit  on  board,  but  I  can 
give  you  a  nice  drink  of  Pillow's  own  iced  Mis 
sissippi  water,"  an  announcement  which  gene 
rally  caused  infinite  disgust  and  some  unhand 
some  wishes  respecting  the  General's  future  hap 
piness. 

By  and  bye,  a  number  of  sick  men  were 
brought  down  on  litters,  and  placed  here  and 
there  along  the  deck.  As  there  was  a  considera 
ble  misunderstanding  between  the  civilian  and 
military  doctors,  it  appeared  to  be  understood 
that  the  best  way  of  arranging  it  was  not  to  at 
tend  to  the  sick  at  all,  and  unfortunate  men  suf 
fering  from  fever  and  dysentery  were  left  to  roll 
and  groan,  and  lie  on  their  stretchers,  without  a 
soul  to  help  them.  I  had  a  medicine  chest  on 
board,  and  I  ventured  to  use  the  lessons  of  my 
experience  in  such  matters,  administered  my 
quinine,  James's  Powder,  calom.el,  and  opium, 
secundum  meam  artem,  and  nothing  could  be 
more  grateful  than  the  poor  fellows  were  for  the 
smallest  mark  of  attention.  ''  Stranger,  remem 
ber,  if  I  die,"  gasped  one  great  fellow,  attenuated 
to  a  skeleton  by  dysentery,  "  that  I  am  Robert 
Tallon,  of  Tishimingo  county,  and  that  I  died  for 
States '  rights ;  see,  now,  they  put  that  in  the 
papers,  won't  you  ?  Robert  Tallon  died  for  States' 
rights,"  and  so  he  turned  round  on  his  blanket. 

Presently  the  General  came  on  board,  and  the 
Ingomar  proceeded  on  her  way  back  to  Mem 
phis.  General  Clarke,  to  whom  I  mentioned  the 
great  neglect  from  which  the  soldiers  were  suf 
fering,  told  me  he  was  afraid  the  men  had  no 
medical  attendance  in  camp.  All  the  doctors,  in 
fact,  wanted  to  fight,  and  as  they  were  educated 
men,  and  generally  connected  with  respectable 
families,  or  had  political  influence  in  the  State, 
they  aspired  to  be  colonels  at  the  very  least,  and 
to  wield  the  sword  instead  of  the  scalpel. 

Next  to  the  medical  department,  the  commis 
sariat  and  transport  were  most  deficient;  but  by 
constant  courts-martial,  stoppages  of  pay,  and 
severe  sentences,  he  hoped  these  evils  would  be 
eventually  somewhat  mitigated.  As  one  who 
had  received  a  regular  military  education,  Gene 
ral  Clarke  was  probably  shocked  by  volunteer 
irregularities;  and  in  such  matters  as  guard- 
mounting,  reliefs,  patrols,  and  picket-duties,  he 
declared  that  they  were  enough  to  break  one's 
heart;  but  I  was  astonished  to  hear  from  him 
that  the  Germans  were  by  far  the  worst  of  the 
five  thousand  troops  under  his  command,  of 
whom  they  formed  more  than  a  fifth. 

While  we  were  conversing,  the  captain  of  the 


steamer  invited  us  to  come  up  into  his  cabin  on 
the  upper  deck;  and  as  railway  conductors, 
steamboat  captains,  bar-keepers,  hotel-clerks,  and 
telegraph  officers  are  among  the  natural  aristo 
cracy  of  the  land,  we  could  not  disobey  the  in 
vitation,  which  led  to  the  consumption  of  some 
of  the  captain's  private  stores,  and  many  warm 
professions  Itf  political  faith. 

The  captain  told  me  it  was  rough  work  aboard 
sometimes  with  "  sports"  and  chaps  of  that  kind ; 
but  "God  bless  you,"  said  he,  "  the  river  now  is 
not  what  it  used  to  be  a  few  years  ago,  when 
we'd  have  three  or  four  difficulties  of  an  after 
noon,  and  may-be  now  and  then  a  regular  free 
fight  all  up  and  down  the  decks,  that  would  last 
a  couple  of  hours,  so  that  when  we  came  to  a 
town  we  would  have  to  send  for  all  the  doctors 
twenty  miles  round,  and  may-be  some  of  them 
would  die  in  spite  of  that.  It  was  the  rowdies 
used  to  get  these  fights  up ;  but  we've  put  them 
pretty  well  down.  The  citizens  have  hunted 
them  out,  and  they's  gone  away  west."  "  Well, 
then,  captain,  one's  life  was  not  very  safe  on 
board  sometimes."  "Safe!  Lord  bless  you!" 
said  the  captain ;  "if  you  did  not  meddle,  just  as 
safe  as  you  are  now,  if  the  boiler  don't  collapse. 
You  must,  in  course,  know  how  to  handle  your 
weepins,  and  be  pretty  spry  in  taking  your  own 
part."  "  Ho,  you  Bill !"  to  his  coloured  servant, 
"open  that  clothes-press."  "Now,  here,"  he 
continued,  "  is  how  I  travel ;  so  that  I  am  always 
easy  in  my  mind  in  case  of  trouble  on  board." 
Putting  his  hand  under  the  pillow  of  the  bed 
close  beside  him,  he  pulled  out  a  formidable  look 
ing  double-barrelled  pistol  at  half-cock,  with  the 
caps  upon  it.  "That's  as  purty  a  pistol  as  Der 
ringer  ever  made.  I've  got  the  brace  of  them 
— here's  the  other ;"  and  with  that  he  whipped 
out  pistol  No.  2,  in  an  equal  state  of  forwardness, 
from  a  little  shelf  over  his  bed  ;  and  then  going 
over  to  the  clothes  press,  he  said,  "  Here's  a  real 
old  Kentuck,  one  of  the  old  sort,  as  light  on  the 
trigger  as  gossamer,  and  sure  as  deeth — Why, 
law  bless  me,  a  child  would  cut  a  turkey's  head 
off  with  it  at  a  hundred  yards."  This  was  a 
huge  lump  of  iron,  about  five  feet  long,  with  a 
small  hole  bored  down  the  centre,  fitted  in  a 
coarse  German-fashioned  stock.  "But,"  con 
tinued  he,  "this  is  my  main  dependence;  here 
is  a  regular  beauty,  a  first  rate,  with  ball  or 
buck-shot,  or  whatever  you  like — made  in  Lon 
don  ;  I  gave  two  hundred  dollars  for  it ;  and  it 
is  so  short  and  handy  and  straight  shooting,  I'd 
just  as  soon  part  with  my  life  as  let  it  go  to 
anybody,"  and,  with  a  glow  of  pride  in  his 
face,  the  captain  handed  round  again  a  very 
short  double-barrelled  gun,  of  some  eleven  or 
twelve  bore,  with  back  action  locks,  and  an  au 
dacious  "  Joseph  Mauton,  London,"  stamped  on 
the  plate.  The  manner  of  the  man  was  per 
fectly  simple  and  bond  fide;  very  much  as  if 
Inspector  Podger  were  revealing  to  a  simpleton 
the  mode  by  which  the  London  police  managed 
refractory  characters  in  the  station-house. 

From  such  matters  as  these  I  was  diverted  by 
the  more  serious  subject  of  the  attitude  taken  by 
England  in  this  quarrel.  The  concession  of  bel 
ligerent  rights  was,  I  found,  misunderstood,  and 
was  considered  as  an  admission,  that  the  South 
ern  States  had  established  their  independence 
before  they  had  done  more  than  declare  their 
intention  to  fight  for  it. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  ANQ  SOUTH. 


121 


It  is  not  within  my  power  to  determine  whe 
ther  the  North  is  as  unfair  to  Great  Britain  as  the 
South  ;  but  I  fear  the  history  of  the  people,  and 
the  tendency  of  their  institutions,  are  adverse  to 
any  hope  of  fair-play  and  justice  to  the  old  coun 
try.  And  yet  it  is  the  only  power  in  Europe  for 
the  good  opinion  of  which  they  really  seem 
to  care.  Let  any  French,  Austrian,  or  Russian 
journal  write  what  it  pleases  of  the  United 
States,  it  is  received  with  indifferent  criticism 
or  callous  head-shaking.  But  let  a  London  paper 
speak,  and  ihe  whole  American  press  is  delighted 
or  furious. 

The  political  sentiment  quite  overrides  all  other 
feelings;  and  it  is  the  only  symptom  states 
men  should  care  about,  as  it  guides  the  policy  of 
the  country.  If  a  man  can  put  faith  in  the  influ 
ence  for  peace  of  common  interests,  of  common 
origin,  common  intentions,  with  the  spectacle  of 
this  incipient  war  before  his  eyes,  he  must  be  in 
capable  of  appreciating  the  consequences  which 
follow  from  man  being  an  animal.  A  war  be 
tween  England  and  the  United  States  would  be 
unnatural ;  but  it  would  not  be  nearly  so  unnatu 
ral  now  as  it  was  when  it  was  actually  waged  in 
1776  between  people  who  were  barely  separated 
from  each  other  by  a  single  generation  ;  or  in 
1812-14,  when  the  foreign  immigration  had  done 
comparatively  little  to  dilute  the  Anglo-Saxon 
blood.  The  Norman  of  Hampshire  and  Sussex 
did  not  care  much  for  th$  ties  of  consanguinity 
and  race  when  he  followed  his  lord  in  fee  to  rav-  - 
age  Guienne  or  Brittany. 

The  general  result  of  my  intercourse  with 
Americans  is  to  produce  the  notion  that  they  con 
sider  Great  Britain  in  a  state  of  corruption  and 
decay,  and  eagerly  seek  to  exalt  France  at  her 
expense.  Their  language  is  the  sole  link  be 
tween  England  and  the  United  States,  and  it  only 
binds  the  England  of  1770  to  the  America  of 
1360. 

There  is  scarcely  an  American  on  either  side  of 
Mason  and.Dixon's  line  who  does  not  religiously 
believe  that  the  colonies,  alone  and  single-hand 
ed,  encountered  the  whole  undivided  force  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  Revolution  and  defeated  it. 
I  mean,  of  course,  the  vast  mass  of  the  people ; 
and  I  do  not  think  there  is  an  orator  or  a  writer 
who  would  venture  to  tell  them  the  truth  on  the 
subject.  Again,  they  firmly  believe  that  their 
petty  frigate  engagements  established  as  com 
plete  a  naval  ascendancy  over  Great  Britain  as 
the  latter  obtained  by  her  great  encounters  with 
the  fleets  of  France  and  Spain.  Their  reverses, 
defeats,  and  headlong  routs  in  the  first  war,  their 
reverses  in  the  second,  are  covered  over  by  a 
huge  Buncombe  plaster,  made  up  of  Bunker's 
Hill,  Plattsburg,  Baltimore,  and  New  Orleans. 

Their  delusions  are  increased  and  solidified  by 
the  extraordinary  text-books  of  so-called  history, 
and  by  the  feasts,  and  festivals,  and  celebrations 
of  their  every-day  political  life,  in  all  of  which 
we  pass  through  imaginary  Caudine  Forks ;  and 
they  entertain  towards  the  old  country  at  best 
very  much  the  feeling  which  a  high-spirited  young 
man  would  feel  towards  the  guardian  who,  when 
he  had  come  of  age,  and  was  free  from  all  con 
trol,  sought  to  restrain  the  passions  of  his  early 
life. 

Now  I  could  not  refuse  to  believe  that  in  New 
Orleans,  Montgomery,  Mobile,  Jackson,  and  Mem 
phis,  there  is  a  reckless  and  violent  condition  of 


society,  unfavourable  to  civilization,  and  but  little 
hopeful  for  the  future.  The  most  absolute  and 
despotic  rule,  under  which  a  man's  life  and  pro-  r  / 
perty  are  safe,  is  better  than  the  largest  measure  of  *"' 
democratic  freedom,  which  deprives  the  freeman 
of  any  security  for  either.  The  state  of  legal  pro 
tection  for  the  most  serious  interests  of  man,  con 
sidered  as  a  civilized  and  social  creature,  which 
prevails  in  America,  could  not  be  tolerated  for  an 
instant,  and  would  generate  a  revolution  in  the 
worst  governed  country  in  Europe.  I  would 
much  sooner,,  as  the  accidental  victim  of  a  gene 
rally  disorganized  police,  be  plundered  by  a  chance 
diligence  robber  in  Mexico,  or  have  a  fair  fight 
with  a  Greek  Klepht,  suffer  from  Italian  banditti, 
or  be  garotted  by  a  London  ticket-of-leave  man, 
than  be  bowie-knifed  or  revolvered  in  consequence 
of  a  political  or  personal  difference  with  a  man, 
who  is  certain  not  in  the  least  degree  to  suffer 
from  an  accidental  success  in  his  argument. 

On  our  return  to  the  hotel  I  dined  with  the 
General  and  his  staff  at  the  public  table,  where 
there  was  a  large  assemblage  of  military  men, 
Southern  ladies,  their  families,  and  contractors. 
This  latter  race  has  risen  up  as  if  by  magic,  to 
meet  the  wants  of  the  new  Confederacy ;  and  it 
is  significant  to  measure  the  amount  of  the  de 
pendence  on  Northern  manufacturers  by  the  ad 
vertisements  in  Southern  journals  indicating  the 
creation  of  new  branches  of  workmanship,  me 
chanical  science,  and  manufacturing  skill. 
'  Hitherto  they  have  been  dependent  on  the 
North  for  the  very  necessaries  of  their  industrial 
life.  These  States  were  so  intent  on  gathering  in 
money  for  the.ir  produce,  expending  it  luxurious 
ly,  and  paying  it  out  for  Northern  labor,  that 
they  found  themselves  suddenly  in  the  condition 
of  a  child  brought  up  by  hand,  whose  nurse  and 
mother  have  left  it  on  the  steps  of  the  poor- 
house.  But  they  have  certainly  essayed  to  reme 
dy  the  evil  and  are  endeavoring  to  make  steam- 
engines,  gunpowder,  lamps,  clothes,  boots,  rail 
way  carriages,  steel  springs,  glass,  and  all  the 
smaller  articles  for  which  even  Southern  house 
holds  find  a  necessity.  S 

The  peculiar  character  of  this  contest  develops 
itself  in  a  manner  almost  incomprehensible  to  a 
stranger  who  has  been  accustomed  to  regard  the 
United  States  as  a  nation.  Here  is  General  Pil 
low,  for  example,  in  the  State  of  Tennessee,  com 
manding  the  forces  of  the  State,  which,  in  effect, 
belongs  to  the  Southern  Confederacy;  but  he 
tells  rne  that  he  cannot  venture  to  move  across  a. 
certain  geographical  line,  dividing  Tennessee 
from  Kentucky,  because  the  State  of  Kentucky, 
in  the  exercise  of  its  sovereign  powers  and  rights, 
which  the  Southern  States  are  bound  specially  to 
respect,  in  virtue  of  their  championship  of  States' 
rights,  has,  like  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  declared  it  will  be  neutral  in 
the  struggle ;  and  Beriah  Magoffin,  Governor  of 
the  aforesaid  State,  has  warned  off  Federal  and 
Confederate  troops  from  his  territory. 

General  Pillow  is  particularly  indignant  with 
the  cowardice  of  the  well-known  Secessionists 
of  Kentucky ;  but  I  think  he  is  rather  more  an 
noyed  by  the  accumulation  of  Federal  troops  at 
Cairo,  and  their  recent  expedition  to  Columbus 
on  the  Kentucky  shore,  a  little  below  them,  where 
they  seized  a  Confederate  flag. 


122 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


Heavy  Bill — Railway  travelling — Introductions — Assas 
sinations—Tennessee—"  Corinth  "— "  Troy  "— "  Hum- 
bolt  "— "  The  Confederate  Camp  "—Return  North 
wards — Columbus — Cairo — The  Slavery  Question — 
Prospects  of  the  War — Coarse  Journalism. 

June  19  th. — It  is  probable  the  landlord  of  the 
Gayoso  House  was  a  strong  Secessionist,  and  re 
solved,  therefore,  to  make  the  most  out  of  a  neu 
tral  customer,  like  myself — certainly  Herodotus 
would  have  been  astonished  if  he  were  called 
upon  to  pay  the  little  bill  which  was  presented 
to  me  in  the  modern  Memphis ;  and'  had  the  old 
Egyptian  hostelries  been  conducted  on  the  same 
principles  as  those  of  the  Tennessean  Memphis, 
the  "  Father  of  History  "  would  have  had  to  sell 
off  a  good  many  editions  in  order  to  pay  his  way. 
I  had  to  rise  at  three  o'clock  A.M.,  to  reach  the 
train,  which  started  before  five.  The  omnibus 
which  took  us  to  the  station  was  literally  nave 
deep  in  dust ;  and  of  all  the  bad  roads  and  dusty 
streets  I  have^et  seen  in  the  New  "World,  where 
both  prevail,  North  and  South,  those  of  Memphis 
are  the  worst.  Indeed,  as  the  citizen,  of  Hiber 
nian  birth,  who  presided  over  the  luggage  of  the 
passengers  on  the  roof,  declared,  "  The  streets  are 
paved  with  waves  of  mud,  only  the  "mud  is  all 
dust  when  it's  fine  weather," 

By  the  time  I  had  arrived  at  the  station  my 
clothes  were  covered  with  a  fine  alluvial  deposit 
in  a  state  of  powder ;  the  platform  was  crowded 
with  volunteers  moving  off  for  the  wars,  and  I 
was  obliged  to  take  my  place  in  a  carriage  full 
of  Confederate  officers  and  soldiers  who  had  a 
large  supply  of  whisky,  which  at  that  early  hour 
they  were  consuming  as  a  prophylactic  against 
the  influence  of  the  morning  dews,  which  here 
abouts  are  of  such  a  deadly  character  that,  to  be 
quite  safe  from  their  influence,  it  appears  to  be 
necessary,  judging  from  the  examples  of  my  com 
panions,  to  get  as  nearly  drunk  as  possible. 
"Whisky,  by-the-by,  is  also  a  sovereign  specific 
against  the  bites  of  rattlesnakes.  All  the  dews 
of  the  Mississippi  and  the  rattlesnakes  of  the 
prairie  might  have  spent  their  force  or  venom  in 
vain  on  my  companions  before  we  had  got  as  far 
as  Union  City. 

I  was  evidently  regarded  with  considerable 
suspicion  by  my  fellow  passengers,  when  they 
heard  I  was  going  to  Cairo,  until  the  conductor 
obligingly  informed  them  who  I  was,  whereupon 
I  was  much  entreated  to  fortify  myself  against  the 
dews  and  rattlesnakes,  and  received  many  offers 
of  service  and  kindness. 

"Whatever  may  be  the  normal  comforts  of 
American  railway  cars,  they  are  certainly  most 
unpleasant  conveyances  when  the  war  spirit  is 
abroad,  and  the  heat  of  the  day,  which  was  ex 
cessive,  did  not  contribute  to  diminish  the  annoy 
ance  of  foul  air — the  odour  of  whisky,  tobacco, 
and  the  like,  combined  with  innumerable  flies. 
At  Humbolt,  which  is  eighty-two  miles  away, 
there  was  a  change  of  cars,  and  an  opportunity 
of  obtaining  some  refreshment, — the  station  was 
crowded  by  great  numbers  of  men  and  women 
dressed  in  their  best,  who  were  making  holiday 
in  order  to  visit  Union  City,  forty-six  miles  dis 
tant,  where  a  force  of  Tennesseean  and  Mississip 
pi  regiments  are  encamped.  The  ladies  boldly 
advanced  into  carriages  which  were  quite  full, 
and  as  they  looked  quite  prepared  to  sit  down  on 
the  occupants  of  the  seats  if  they  did  not  move, 


and  to  destroy  them  with  all-absorbing  articles 
of  feminine  warfare,  either  offensive  or  aggressive, 
and  crush  them  with  iron-bound  crinolines,  they 
soon  drove  us  out  into  the  broiling  sun. 

Whilst  I  was  on  the  platform  I  underwent  the 
usual  process  of  American  introduction,  not,  I  fear, 
very  good-humouredly.  A  gentleman  whom  you 
never  saw  before  in  your  life,  walks  up  to  you  and 
says,  "  I  am  happy  to  see  you  among  us,  sir,"  and 
if  he  finds  a  hand  wandering  about,  he  shakes  it 
cordially.  "  My  name  is  Jones,  sir,  Judge  Jones 
of  Pumpkin  County.  Any  information  about  this 
place  or  State  that  I  can  give  is  quite  at  your 
service."  This  is  all  very  civil  and  well  meant 
of  Jones,  but  before  you  have  made  up  your  mind 
what  to  say,  or  on  what  matter  to  test  the  worth 
of  his  proffered  information,  he  darts  off  and  seizes, 
one  of  the  group  who  have  been  watching  Jones's 
advance,  and  comes  forward  with  a  tall  man,  like 
himself,  busily  engaged  with  a  piece  of  tobacco. 
"  Colonel,  let  me  introduce  you  to  my  friend,  Mr. 
Russell.  This,  sir,  is  one  of  our  leading  citizens, 
Colonel  Knags."  Whereupon  the  Colonel  shakes 
hands,  uses  nearly  the  same  formula  as  Judge- 
Jones,  immediately  returns  to  his  friends,  and 
cuts  in  before  Jones  is  back  with  other  friends, 
whom  he  is  hurrying  up  the  platform,  introduces 
General  Cassius  Mudd  and  Dr.  Ordlando  Bellows, 
who  go  through  the  same  ceremony,  and  as  each 
man  has  a  circle  of  his  own,  my  acquaintance 
becomes  prodigiously  extended,  and  my  hand 
considerably  tortured  in  the  space  of  a  few 
minutes ;  finally  I  am  introduced  to  the  driver  of 
the  engine  and  the  stoker,  but  they  proved  to  be 
acquaintances  not  at  all  to  be  despised,  for  they 
gave  me  a  seat  on  the  engine,  which  was  really 
a  boon  considering  that  the  train  was  crowded 
beyond  endurance,  and  in  a  state  of  internal  nas- 
tiuess  scarcely  conceivable. 

When  I  had  got  up  on  the  engine  a  gentleman 
clambered  after  me  in  order  to  have  a  little  con 
versation,  and  he  turned  out  to  be  an  intelligent 
and  clever  man  well  acquainted  with  the  people 
and  the  country.  I  had  been  much  impressed  by 
the  account  in  the  Memphis  papers  of  the  law 
lessness  and  crime  which  seemed  to  prevail  in 
the  State  of  Mississippi,  and  of  the  brutal  shoot 
ings  and  stabbings  which  disgraced  it  and  other 
Southern  States.  He  admitted  it  was  true,  but 
could  .not  see  any  remedy.  "Why  not?" 
"  Well,  sir,  the  rowdies  have  rushed  in  on  us,  and 
we  can't  master  them ;  they  are  too  strong  for 
the  respectable  people."  "  Then  you  admit  the 
law  is  nearly  powerless?"  "  Well,  you  see,  sir, 
these  men  have  got  hold  of  the  people  who  ought 
to  administer  the  law,  and  when  they  fail  to 
do  so  they  are  so  powerful  by  reason  of  their 
numbers,  and  so  reckless,  they  have  things  their 
own  way." 

"  In  effect  then,  you  are  living  under  a  reign  of 
terror,  and  the  rule  of  a  ruffian  mob  ?"  "  It's  not 
quite  so  bad  as  that,  perhaps,  for  the  respectable 
people  are  not  much  affected  by  it,  and  most  of 
the  crimes  of  which  you  speak  are  committed  by 
these  bad  classes  in  their  own  section;  but  it  is 
disgraceful  to  have  such  a  state  of  things,  and 
when  this  war  is  over,  and  we  have  started  the 
Confederacy  all  fair,  we'll  put  the  whole  thing 
down.  We  are  quite  determined  to  take  the 
law  into  our  own  hands,  and  the  first  remedy 
for  the  condition  of  affairs  which  we  all  lament, 
will  be  to  confine  the  suffrage  to  native-born 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


123 


v 


Americans,  and  to  get  rid  of  the  iniunous 
scoundrelly  foreigners,  who  now  overrul-3  us  in 
our  country."  "But  are  not  many  regiments  of 
Irish  and  Germans  now  fighting  for  you  ?  And 
will  these  foreigners,  who  have  taken  up  arms  in 
your  cause  be  content  to  receive  as  the  result  of 
their  success  an  inferior  position,  politically,  to 
that  which  they  now  hold?"  "Well,  sir,  they 
must;  we  are  bound  to  go  through  with  this 
thing  if  we  would  save  society."  I  had  so  often 
heard  a  similar  determination  expressed  by  men 
belonging  to  the  thinking  classes  in  the  South 
that  I  am  bound  to  believe  the  project  is  enter 
tained  by  many  of  those  engaged  in  this  great 
revolt — one  principle  of  which,  indeed,  may  be 
considered  hostility  to  universal  suffrage,  combin 
ing  with  it,  of  course,  the  limitation  of  the  immi 
grant  vote. 

Tho  portion  of  Tennessee  through  which  the 
rail  runs  is  exceedingly  uninteresting,  and  looks 
unhealthy,  the  clearings  occur  at  long  intervals 
in  the  forest,  and  the  unwholesome  population, 
who  came  out  of  their  low  shanties,  situated 
amidst  blackened  stumps  of  trees  or  fields  of 
Indian  corn,  did  not  seem  prosperous  or  comfort 
able.  The  twists  and  curves  of  the  rail,  through 
canebrakes  and  swamps,  exceeded  in  that  respect 
any  line  I  have  ever  travelled  on  ;  but  the  verti 
cal  irregularities  of  the  rail  were  still  greater,  and 
the  engine  bounded  as  if  it  were  at  sea. 

The  names  of  the  stations  show  that  a  savant 
nas  been  rambling  about  the  district.  Here  is 
Corinth,  which  consists  of  n  wooden  grog-shop 
and  three  log  shanties ;  the  acropolis  is  repre 
sented  by  a  grocery  store,  of  which  the  proprietors, 
no  doubt,  have  gone  to  the  wars,  as  their  names 
were  suspiciously  Milesian,  and  the  doors  and 
windows  were  fastened;  but  occasionally  the 
names  of  the  stations  on  the  railway  boards 
represented  towns  arid  villages,  hidden  in  the 
wood  some  distance  away,  and  Mummius  might 
have  something  to  ruin  if  he  inarched  off  the 
track  but  not  otherwise. 

The  city  of  Troy  was  still  simpler  in  architec 
ture  than  the  Grecian  capitol.  The  Dardanian 
towers  were  represented  by  a  timber-house,  in 
the  verandah  of  which  the  American  Helen  was 
seated,  in  the  shape  of  an  old  woman  smoking  a 
pipe,  and  she  certainly  could  have  set  the  Palace 
of  Priam  on  fire  much  more  readily  than  her 
prototype.  Four  sheds,  three  log  huts,  a  saw 
mill,  about  twenty  negroes  sitting  on  a  wood 
pile,  and  looking  at  the  train,  constituted  the  rest 
of  the  place,  which  was  certainly  too  new  for  one 
to  say,  Troja  fuit,  whilst  the  general  "fixins" 
would  scarcely  authorize  us  to  say  with  any  con 
fidence,  Troja  fuerit. 

The  train  from  Troy  passed  through  a  cypress 
swamp,  over  which  the  engine  rattled,  and  hop 
ped  at  a  perilous  rate  along  high  trestle  work,  till 
forty-six  miles  from  Humbolt  we  came  to  Union 
City,  which  was  apparently  formed  by  aggregate 
meetings  of  discontented  shavings  that  had  tra 
velled  out  of  the  forest  hard  by.  But  a  little  be 
yond  it  was  the  Confederate  camp,  which  so 
many  citizens  and  citizen  esses  had  come  out  into 
the  wilderness  to  see ;  and  a  general  descent  was 
made  upon  the  place  whilst  the  volunteers  came 
swarming  out  of  their  tents  to  meet  their  friends. 
It  was  interesting  to  observe  the  affectionate 
greetings  between  the  young  soldiers,  mothers, 
wives,  and  sweethearts,  and  as  a  display  of  the 


force  and  earnestness  of  the  Southern  people — the 
camp  itself  containing  thousands  of  men,  many 
of  whom  were  members  of  the  first  families  in 
the  State — was  specially  significant. 

There  is  no  appearance  of  military  order  or 
discipline  about  the  camps,  though  they  were 
guarded  by  sentries  and  cannon,  and  implements 
of  war  and  soldiers'  accoutrements  were  abundant. 
Some  of  the  sentinels  carried  their  firelocks  under 
their  arms  like  umbrellas,  others  carried  the  butt 
over  the  shoulder  and  the  muzzle  downwards, 
and  one  for  his  greater  ease  had  stuck  the  bay 
onet  of  his  firelock  into  the  ground,  and  was 
leaning  his  elbow  on  the  stock  with  his  chin  on 
his  hand,  whilst  Sybarites  less  ingenious,  had 
simply  deposited  their  muskets  against  the  trees, 
and  were  lying  down  reading  newspapers.  Their 
arms  and  uniforms  were  of  different  descriptions 
— sporting  rifles,  fowling  pieces,  flint  muskets, 
smooth  bores,  long  and  short  barrels,  new  En- 
fields,  and  the  like;  but  the  men,  nevertheless, 
were  undoubtedly  material  for  excellent  soldiers. 
There  were  some  few  boys,  too  young  to  carry 
arms,  although  the  zeal  and  ardour  of  such  lads 
cannot  but  have  a  good  effect,  if  they  behave  well 
in  action. 

The  great  attraction  of  this  train  lay  in  a  vast 
supply  of  stores,  with  which  several  large  vans 
were  closely  packed,  and  for  fully  two  hours  the 
train  was  delayed,  whilst  hampers  of  wine,  spirits, 
vegetables,  fruit,  meat,  groceries,  and  all  the 
various  articles  acceptable  to  soldiers  living  under 
canvas  were  disgorged  on  the  platform,  and  car 
ried  away  by  the  expectant  military. 

I  was  pleased  to  observe  the  perfect  confidence 
that  was  felt  in  the  honesty  of  the  men.  The 
railway  servants  simply  deposited  each  article  as 
it  came  out  on  the  platform — the  men  came  up, 
read  the  address,  and  carried  it  away,  or  left  it, 
as  the  case  might  be  ;  and  only  in  one  instance 
did  I  see  a  scramble,  which  was  certainly  qr.ite 
justifiable,  for  in  handing  out  a  large  basket  tho 
bottom  gave  way,  and  out  tumbled  onions,  apples, 
and  potatoes  among  the  soldiery,  who  stuffed 
their  pockets  and  haversacks  with  the  unexpect 
ed  bounty.  One  young  fellow,  who  was  handed 
a  large  wicker-covered  jar  from  the  van,  having 
shaken  it,  arid  gratified  his  ear  by  the  pleasant 
jingle  inside,  retired  to  the  roadside,  drew  the 
cork,  and,  raising  it  slowly  to  his  mouth,  pro 
ceeded  to  take  a  good  pull  at  the  contents,  to  the 
envy  of  his  comrades ;  but  the  pleasant  expres 
sion  upon  his  face  rapidly  vanished,  and  spurting 
out  the  fluid  with  a  hideous  grimace,  he  exclaimed, 

"D ;  why,  if  the  old  woman  has  not  gone 

and  sent  me  a  gallon  of  syrup."  The  matter  was 
evidently  considered  too  serious  to  joke  about, 
for  not  a  soul  in  the  crowd  even  smiled  ;  but  they 
walked  away  from  the  man,  who,  putting  down 
the  jar,  seemed  in  doubt  as  to  whether  he  would 
take  it  away  or  not. 

Numerous  were  the  invitations  to  stop,  which 
I  received  from  the  officers.  "Why  not  stay 
with  us,  sir ;  what  can  a  gentleman  want  to  go 
among  black  Republicans  and  Yankees  for  ?  "  It 
is  quite  obvious  that  my  return  to  the  Northern 
States  is  regarded  with  some  suspicion  ;  but  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  my  explanation  of  the  neces 
sity  of  the  step  was  always  well  received,  and 
satisfied  my  Southern  friends  that  I  had  no  alter 
native.  A  special  correspondent,  whose  letters 
cannot  get  out  of  the  country  in  which  he  ia 


124 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


engaged,  can  scarcely  fulfil  the  purpose  of  his 
mission ;  and  I  used  to  point  out,  good-humoured  • 
ly,  to  these  gentlemen  that  until  they  had  either 
opened  the  communication  with  the  North,  or 
had  broken  the  blockade,  and  established  steam 
communication  with  Europe,  I  must  seek  my 
base  of  operations  elsewhere. 

At  last  we  started  from  Union  City;  and  there 
came  into  the  car,  among  other  soldiers  who  were 
going  out  to  Columbus,  a  fine  specimen  of  the 
wild  filibustering  population  of  the  South,  which 
furnish  many  recruits  to  the  ranks  of  the  Con 
federate  army — a  tall,  brawny-shouldered,  brown- 
faced,  black-bearded,  hairy-handed  man,  with  a 
hunter's  eye,  and  rather  a  Jewish  face,  full  of 
life,  energy,  and  daring.  I  easily  got  into  con 
versation  with  him,  as  my  companion  happened 
to  be  a  freemason,  and  he  told  us  he  had  been  a 
planter  in  Mississippi,  and  once  owned  110 
negroes,  worth  at  least  some  20.000Z. ;  but,  as  he 
said  himself,  "  I  was  always  patrioting  it  about; " 
and  so  he  went  oft',  first  with  Lopez  to  Cuba,  was 
wounded  and  taken  prisoner  by  the  Spaniards, 
but  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  saved  from  the 
execution  which  was  inflicted  on  the  ringleaders 
of  the  expedition.  When  he  came  back  he  found 
his  plantation  all  the  worse,  and  a  decrease 
amongst  his  negroes;  but  his  love  of  adventure 
and  filibustering  was  stronger  than  his  prudence 
or  desire  of  gain.  He  took  up  with  Walker, 
"the  grey-eyed  man  of  destiny,"  and  accompanied 
him  in  his  strange  career  till  his  leader  received 
the  coup  de  grace  in  the  final  raid  upon  Nicaragua. 

Again  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  would  have 
been  put  to  death  by  the  Nicaraguans,  but  for 
the  intervention  of  Captain  Aldham.  "I  don't 
bear  any  love  to  the  Britishers,"  said  he,  "but 
I'm  bound  to  say,  as  so  many  charges  have  been 
made  against  Captain  Aldham,  that  he  behaved 
like  a  gentleman,  and  if  I  had  been  at  New 
Orleans  when  them  cussed  cowardly  blackguards 
ill-used  him,  I'd  have  left  my  mark  so  deep  on  a 
few  of  them,  that  their  clothes  would  not  cover 
them  long."  He  told  us  that  at  present  he  had 
only  five  negroes  left,  "but  I'm  not  going  to  let 
the  black  republicans  lay  hold  of  them,  and  I'm 
just  going  to  stand  up  for  States'  rights  as  long 
as  I  can  draw  a  trigger — so  snakes  and  Aboli 
tionists  look  out."  He  was  so  reduced  by  starva 
tion,  ill-treatment,  and  sickness  in  Nicaragua, 
when  Captain  Aldham  procured  his  release,  that 
he  weighed  only  110  pounds,  but  at  present  he 
was  over  200  pounds,  a  splendid  bete  fauve,  and 
without  wishing  so  fine  a  looking  fellow  any 
harm,  I  could  not  but  help  thinking  that  it  must 
be  a  benefit  to  American  society  to  get  rid  of  a 
considerable  number  of  the  class  of  which  he  is 
a  representative  man.  And  there  is  every  pro 
bability  that  they  will  have  a  full  opportunity  of 
doing  so. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  train  at  Columbus, 
twenty-five  miles  from  Union  City,  my  friend  got 
out,  and  a  good  number  of  men  in  uniform  joined 
him,  which  led  me  to  conclude  that  they  had 
some  more  serious  object  than  a  mere  pleasure 
trip  to  the  very  uninteresting  looking  city  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  asserted  to  be 
neutral  territory,  as  it  belongs  to  the  sovereign 
state  of  Kentucky.  I  heard,  accidentally,  as  I 
came  in  the  train,  that  a  party  of  Federal  soldiers 
from  the  camp  at  Cairo,  up  the  river,  had  recently 
descended  to  Columbus  and  torn  down  a  secession 


flag  which  had  been  hoisted  on  the  river's  bank, 
to  the  great  indignation  of  many  of  the  inhabit 
ants. 

In  those  border  states  the  coming  war  promises 
to  produce  the  greatest  misery ;  they  will  be  the 
scenes  of  hostile  operations ;  the  population  is 
divided  in  sentiment;  the  greatest  efforts  will  be 
made  by  each  side  to  gain  the  ascendancy  in  the 
state,  and  to  crush  the  opposite  faction,  and  it  is 
not  possible  to  believe  that  Kentucky  can  main 
tain  a  neutral  position,  or  that  either  Federal  or 
Confederates  will  pay  the  smallest  regard  to  the 
proclamation  of  Governor  McGoffin,  and  to  his 
empty  menaces. 

At  Columbus  the  steamer  was  waiting  to  con 
vey  us  up  to  Cairo,  and  I  congratulated  myself 
on  the  good  fortune  of  arriving  in  time  for  the  last 
opportunity  that  will  be  afforded  of  proceeding 
northward  by  this  route.  General  Pillow  on  the 
one  hand,  and  General  Prentiss  on  the  other, 
have  resolved  to  blockade  the  Mississippi,  and  as 
the  facilities  for  Confederates  going  up  to  Colum 
bus  and  obtaining  information  of  what  is  hap 
pening  in  the  Federal  camps  cannot  readily  be 
checked,  the  general  in  command  of  the  port  to 
which  I  am  bound  has  intimated  that  the  steam 
ers  must  cease  running.  It  was  late  in  the  day 
when  we  entered  once  more  on  the  father  of  wa 
ters,  which  is  here  just  as  broad,  as  muddy,  as 
deep,  and  as  wooded  as  it  is  at  Baton  Rouge,  or 
Vicksburg. 

Columbus  is  situated  on  an  elevated  spur  or 
elbow  of  land  projecting  into  the  river,  and  has, 
in  commercial  faith,  one  of  those  futures  which 
have  so  many  rallying  points  down  the  centre  of 
the  great  river.  The  steamer  which  lay  at  the 
wharf,  or  rather  the  wooden  piles  in  the  bank 
which  afforded  a  resting-place  for  the  gangway, 
carried  no  flag,  and  on  board  presented  traces  of 
better  days,  a  list  of  refreshments  no  longer  at 
tainable,  and  a  bill  of  fare  utterly  fanciful.  About 
twenty  passengers  came  on  board,  most  of  whom 
had  a  distracted  air,  as  if  they  were  doubtful  of 
their  journey.  The  captain  was  surly,  the  office- 
keeper  petulant,  the  crew  morose,  and,  perhaps, 
only  one  man  on  board,  a  stout  Englishman,  who 
was  purser  or  chief  .of  the  victualling  department, 
seemed  at  all  inclined  to  be  communicative.  At 
dinner  he  asked  me  whether  I  thought  there 
would  be  a  fight,  but  as  I  was  oscillating  between 
one  extreme  and  the  other,  I  considered  it  right 
to  conceal  my  opinion  even  from  the  steward  of 
the  Mississippi  boat;  and,  as  it  happened,  the 
expression  of  it  would  not  have  been  of  much 
consequence  one  way  or  the  other,  for  it  turned 
out  that  our  friend  was  of  very  stern  stuff.  "  This 
war,"  he  said,  "  is  all  about  niggers ;  I've  been 
sixteen  years  in  the  country,  and  I  never  met 
one  of  them  yet  was  fit  to  be  anything  but  a 
slave ;  I  know  the  two  sections  well,  and  I  tell 
you,  sir,  the  North  can't  whip  the  South,  let  them 
do  their  best ;  they  may  ruin  the  country,  but 
they'll  do  no  good." 

There  were  men  on  board  who  had  expressed 
the  strongest  secession  sentiments  in  the  train, 
but  who  now  sat  and  listened  and  acquiesced  in 
the  opinions  of  Northern  men,  and  by  the  time 
Cairo  was  in  sight,  they,  no  doubt,  would  have 
taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  which  every  doubtful 
person  is  required  to  utter  before  he  is  allowed  to 
go  beyond  the  military  post. 

In  about  two  hours  or  so  the  captain  pointed 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


125 


out  to  me  a  tall  building  and  some  sheds,  which 
seemed  to  arise  out  of  a  wide  reach  in  the  river, 
"  that's  Cairey,"  said  he,  "  where  the  Unionists 
have  their  camp,"  and  very  soon  the  stars  and 
stripes  were  visible,  waving  from  a  lofty  staff,  at 
the  angle  of  low  land  formed  by  the  junction  of 
the  Mississippi  and  Ohio. 

For  two  months  I  had  seen  only  the  rival  stars 
and  bars,  with  the  exception  of  the  rival  banner 
floating  from  the  ships  and  the  fort  at  Pickens. 
One  of  the  passengers  told  me  that  the  place 
was  supposed  to  be  described  by  Mr.  Dickens, 
in  "  Martin  Chuzzlewit,"  and  as  the  steamer 
approached  the  desolate  embankment,  which 
seemed  the  only  barrier  between  the  low  land  on 
which  the  so-called  city  was  built,  and  the  wa 
ters  of  the  great  river  rising  above  it,  it  certainly 
became  impossible  to  beh'eve  that  sane  men,  even 
as  speculators,  could  have  fixed  upon  such  a  spot 
as  the  possible  site  of  a  great  city, — an  emporium 
of  trade  and  commerce.  A  more  desolate  woe 
begone  looking  place,  now  that  all  trade  and 
commerce  had  ceased,  cannot  be  conceived ;  but 
as  the  southern  terminus  of  the  central  Illinois 
railway,  it  displayed  a  very  different  scene  before 
the  war  broke  out. 

With  the  exception  of  the  large  hotel,  which 
rises  far  above  the  levee  of  the  river,  the  public 
edifices  are  represented  by  a  church  and  spire, 
and  the  rest  of  the  town  by  a  line  of  shanties  and 
small  houses,  the  rooms  and  upper  stories  of 
which  are  just  visible  above  the  embankment. 
The  general  impression  effected  by  the  place  was 
decidedly  like  that  which  the  Isle  of  Dogs  pro 
duces  on  a  despondent  foreigner  as  he  approaches 
London  by  the  river  on  a  drizzly  day  in  November. 
The  stream,  formed  by  the  united  efforts  of  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Ohio,  did  not  appear  to  gain 
much  breadth,  and  each  of  the  confluents  looked 
as  large  as  its  product  with  the  other.  Three 
steamers  lay  alongside  the  wooden  wharves  pro 
jecting  from  the  embankment,  which  was  also 
lined  by  some  flat-boats.  Sentries  paraded  the 
gangways  as  the  steamer  made  fast  along  the 
shore,  but  no  inquiry  was  directed  to  any  of  the 
passengers,  and  I  walked  up  the  levee  and  pro 
ceeded  straight  to  the  hotel,  winch  put  me  very 
much  in  mind  of  an  effort  made  by  speculating 
proprietors  to  create  a  watering-place  on  some 
lifeless  beach.  In  the  hall  there  were  a  number 
of  officers  in  United  States'  uniforms,  and  the 
lower  part  of  the  hotel  was,  apparently,  occupied 
as  a  military  bureau ;  finally,  I  was  shoved  into 
a  small  dungeon,  with  a  window  opening  out  on 
the  angle  formed  by  the  two  rivers,  which  was 
lined  with  sheds  and  huts  and  terminated  by  a 
battery. 

These  camps  are  such  novelties  in  the  country, 
and  there  is  such  romance  in  the  mere  fact  of  a 
man  living  in  a  tent,  that  people  come  far  and 
wide  to  see  their  friends  under  such  extraordi 
nary  circumstances,  and  the  hotel  at  Cairo  was 
crowded  by  men  and  women  who  had  come  from 
all  parts  of  Illinois  to  visit  their  acquaintances 
aud  relations  belonging  to  the  state  troops  en 
camped  at  this  important  point.  The  sdlle  d 
manger,  a  long  and  lofty  room  on  the  ground 
floor,  which  I  visited  at  supper  time,  was  almost 
untenable  by  reason  of  heat  and  flies :  nor  did  I 
find  that  the  iree  negroes,  who  acted  as  attend 
ants,  possessed  any  advantages  over  their  en 
slaved  brethren  a  few  miles  lower  down  the 


river ;  though  their  freedom  was  obvious  enough 
in  their  demeanour  and  manners. 

I  was  introduced  to  General  Prentiss,  an  agree 
able  person,  without  anything  about  him  to  indi 
cate  the  soldier.  He  gave  me  a  number  of  news 
papers,  the  articles  in  which  were  principally 
occupied  with  a  discussion  of  Lord  John  Russell's 
speech  on  American  affairs.  Much  as  the  South 
found  fault  with  the  British  minister  for  the  views 
he  had  expressed,  the  North  appears  much  more 
indignant,  and  denounces  in  the  press  what  the 
journalists  are  pleased  to  call  "  the  hostility  of 
the  Foreign  Minister  to  the  United  States."  It 
admitted,  however,  that  the  extreme  irritation 
caused  by  admitting  the  Southern  States  to  exer 
cise  limited  belligerent  rights  was  not  quite  justi 
fiable.  Soon  after  nightfall  I  retired  to  my  room 
and  battled  with  mosquitoes  till  I  sank  into  sleep 
and  exhaustion,  and  abandoned  myself  to  their 
mercies ;  perhaps,  after  all,  there  were  not  more 
than  a  hundred  or  so,  and  their  united  efforts 
could  not  absorb  as  much  blood  as  would  be 
taken  out  by  one  leech,  but  then  their  horrible 
acrimony,  which  leaves  a  wreck  behind  in  the 
place  where  they  have  banqueted,  inspires  the 
utmost  indignation,  and  appears  to  be  an  inde 
fensible  prolongation  of  the  outrage  of  the  ori 
ginal  bite. 

June  20th. — When  I  awoke  this  morning,  and, 
gazing  out  of  my  little  window  on  the  regiments 
parading  on  the  level  below  me,  after  an  arduous 
struggle  to  obtain  cold  water  for  a  bath,  sat  down 
to  consider  what  I  had  seen  within  the  last  two 
months,  and  to  arrive  at  some  general  results  from 
the  retrospect,  I  own  that  after  much  thought  my 
mind  was  reduced  to  a  hazy  analysis  of  the  ab 
stract  principles  of  right  and  wrong,  in  which  it 
failed  to  come  to  any  very  definite  conclusion : 
the  space  of  a  very  few  miles  has  completely  al 
tered  the  phases  of  thought  and  the  forms  of  lan 
guage. 

I  am  living  among  "abolitionists,  cut-throats, 
Lincolnite  mercenaries,  foreign  invaders,  assas 
sins,  and  plundering  Dutchmen."  Such,  at  least, 
the  men  of  Columbus  tell  me  the  garrison  at  Cairo 
consists  of.  Down  below  me  are  "  rebels,  con 
spirators,  robbers,  slave  breeders,  wretches  bent 
upon  destroying  the  most  perfect  government  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  in  order  to  perpetuate  an 
accursed  system,  by  which  human  beings  are  held 
in  bondage  and  immortal  souls  consigned  to  per 
dition." 

On  the  whole,  the  impression  left  upon  my 
mind  by  what  I  had  seen  in  slave  states  is  un 
favourable  to  the  institution  of  slavery,  both  as 
regards  its  effects  on  the  slave  and  its  influence 
on  the  master.  But  my  examination  was  neces 
sarily  superficial  and  hasty.  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  the  more  deeply  the  institution  is 
probed,  the  more  clearly  will  its  unsoundness  and 
its  radical  evils  be  discerned.  The  constant  ap 
peals  made  to  the  physical  comforts  of  the  slaves, 
and  their  supposed  contentment,  have  little  or  no 
effect  on  any  person  who  acts  up  to  a  higher  stan 
dard  of  human  happiness  than  that  which  is  ap 
plied  to  swine  or  the  beasts  of  the  fields.  "  See 
how  fat  my  pigs  are." 

The  arguments  founded  on  a  comparison  of  the 
condition  of  the  slave  population  with  the  pau 
perised  inhabitants  of  European  states  are  utterly 
fallacious,  inasmuch  as  in  one  point,  which  is  the 
most  important  by  fur,  there  can  be  no  compari- 


126 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


son  at  all.  In  effect,  slavery  can  only  be  justified 
in  the  abstract  on  the  grounds  which  slavery  ad 
vocates  decline  to  take  boldly,  though  they  in 
sinuate  it  now  and  then,  that  is,  the  inferiority 
of  the  negro  in  respect  to  white  men,  which  re 
moves  them  from  the  upper  class  of  human  be 
ings  and  places  them  in  a  condition  which  is  as 
much  below  the  Caucasian  standard  as  the  qua- 
drumanous  creatures  are  beneath  the  negro. 
Slavery  is  a  curse,  with  its  time  of  accomplish 
ment  not  quite  at  hand — it  is  a  cancer,  the  ra 
vages  of  which  are  covered  by  fair  outward  show, 
and  by  the  apparent  health  of  the  sufferer. 

The  slave  states,  of  course,  would  not  support 
the  Northern  for  a  year  if  cotton,  sugar,  and  to 
bacco  became  suddenly  worthless.  But,  never 
theless,  the  slave  owners  would  have  strong 
grounds  to  stand  upon  if  they  were  content  to 
point  to  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  emancipa 
tion,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  they  re 
ceived  their  damnosa  hereditas  from  England, 
which  fostered,  nay  forced,  slavery  in  the  legisla 
tive  hotbeds  throughout  the  colonies.  The  Eng 
lishman  may  say,  "  We  abolished  slavery  when 
we  saw  its  evils."  The  slave  owner  replies,  "  Yes, 
with  you  it  was  possible  to  decree  the  extinction 
— not  with  us." 

Never  did  a  people  enter  on  a  war  so  utterly 
\j  destitute  of  any  reason  for  waging  it,  or  of  the 
means  of  bringing  it  to  a  successful  termination 
against  internal  enemies.  The  thirteen  colonies 
had  a  large  population  of  sea-faring  and  soldier 
ing  men,  constantly  engaged  in  military  expedi 
tions.  There  was  a  large  infusion,  compared 
with  the  numbers  of  men  capable  of  commanding 
in  the  field,  and  their  great  enemy  was  separated 
by  a  space  far  greater  than  the  whole  circumfe 
rence  of  the  globe  would  be  in  the  present  time 
from  the  scene  of  operations.  Most  American 
officers  who  took  part  in  the  war  of  1812-14.  are 
now  too  old  for  service,  or  retired  into  private  life 
soon  after  the  campaign.  The  same  remark  ap 
plies  to  the  senior  officers  who  served  in  Mexico, 
and  the  experiences  of  that  campaign  could  not 
be  of  much  use  to  those  now  in  the  service,  of 
whom  the  majority  were  subalterns,  or  at  most, 
officers  in  command  of  volunteers. 

A  love  of  military  display  is  very  different  in 
deed  from  a  true  soldierly  spirit,  and  at  the  base 
of  the  volunteer  system  there  lies  a  radical  diffi 
culty,  which  must  be  overcome  before  real  mili 
tary  efficiency  can  be  expected.  In  the  South 
the  foreign  element  has  contributed  largely  to 
swell  the  ranks  with  many  docile  and  a  few  ex 
perienced  soldiers,  the  number  of  the  latter  pre 
dominating  in  the  German  levies,  and  the  same 
remark  is,  I  hear,  true  of  the  Northern  armies. 

The  most  active  member  of  the  staff  here  is  a 
young  Elnglishman  named  Binmore,  who  was  a 
stenographic  writer  in  London,  but  has  now 
sharpened  his  pencil  into  a  sword,  and  when  I 
went  into  the  guard-room  this  morning  I  found 
that  three-fourths  of  the  officers,  including  all 
who  had.  seen  actual  service,  were  foreigners. 
One,  Milotzky,  was  an  Hungarian ;  another, 
Waagner,  was  of  the  same  nationality;  a  third, 
Schuttner,  was  a  German ;  another,  Mac  some 
thing,  was  a  Scotchman ;  another  was  an  English 
man.  One  only  (Colonel  Morgan),  who  had  served 
in  Mexico,  was  an  American.  The  foreigners,  of 
course,  serve  in  this  war  as  mercenaries ;  that  is, 
ttiey  enter  into  the  conflict  to  gain  something  by 


it,  either  in  pay,  in  position,  or  in  securing  a  sta 
tus  for  themselves. 

The  utter  absence  of  any  fixed  principle  deter 
mining  the  side  which  the  foreign  nationalities 
adopt  is  proved  by  their  going  North  or  South 
with  the  state  in  which  they  live.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  effects  of  discipline  and  of  the  principles 
of  military  life  on  rank  and  file  are  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  soldiers  of  the  regular  regiments  of 
the  United  States  and  the  sailors  in  the  navy  have  t 
to  a  man  adhered  to  their  colours,  notwithstand 
ing  the  examples  and  inducements  of  their  offi 
cers. 

After  breakfast  I  went  down  about  the  works, 
which  fortify  the  bank  of  mud,  in  the  shape  of  a 
V,  formed  by  the  two  rivers — a  fleche  with  a 
ditch,  scarp,  and  counter-scarp.  Some  heavy 
pieces  cover  the  end  of  the  spit  at  the  other  side 
of  the  Mississippi,  at  Bird's  Point.  On  the  side 
of  Missouri  there  is  a  field  entrenchment,  held  by 
a  regiment  of  Germans,  Poles,  and  Hungarians, 
about  1000  strong,  with  two  field  batteries.  The 
sacred  soil  of  Kentucky,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Ohio,  is  tabooed  by  Beriah  Magoffin,  but  it  is  not 
possible  for  the  belligerents  to  stand  so  close  face 
to  face  without  occupying  either  Columbus  or 
Hickman.  The  thermometer  was  at  100Q  soon 
after  breakfast,  and  it  was  not  wonderful  to  find 
that  the  men  in  Camp  Defiance,  which  is  the 
name  of  the  cantonment  on  the  mud  between  the 
levees  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  were  suffer 
ing  from  diarrhoea  and  fever. 

In  the  evening  there  was  a  review  of  three 
regiments,  forming  a  brigade  of  some  2800  men, 
who  went  through  their  drill,  advancing  in  co 
lumns  of  company,  moving  en  echelon,  changing 
front,  deploying  into  line  on  the  centre  company, 
very  creditably.  It  was  curious  to  see  what  a 
start  ran  through  the  men  during  the  parade 
when  a  gun  was  fired  from  the  battery  close  at 
hand,  and  how  their  heads  turned  towards  the 
river ;  but  the  steamer  which  had  appeared  round 
the  bend  hoisted  the  private  signs  by  which  she 
was  known  as  a  friend,  and  tranquillity  was  re 
stored. 

I  am  not  sure  that  most  of  these  troops  desire 
anything  but  a  long  residence  at  a  tolerably  com 
fortable  station,  with  plenty  of  pay  and  no  march 
ing.  Cairo,  indeed,  is  not  comfortable ,  the  worst 
barr?ck  that  ever  asphyxiated  the  British  soldier 
would  be  better  than  the  best  shed  here,  and  the 
flies  and  the  mosquitoes  are  beyond  all  concep 
tion  virulent  and  pestiferous.  I  would  give  much 
to  see  Cairo  in  its  normal  state,  but  it  is  my  fate 
to  witness  the  most  interesting  scenes  in  the 
world  through  a  glaze  of  gunpowder.  It  would 
be  unfair  to  say  that  any  marked  superiority  in 
dwelling,  clothing,  or  comfort,  was  visible  be 
tween  the  mean  white  of  Cairo  or  the  black  chat 
tel  a  few  miles  down  the  river.  Brawling,  riot 
ing,  and  a  good  deal  of  drunkenness  prevailed  in 
the  miserable  sheds  which  line  the  stream,  al 
though  there  was  nothing  to  justify  the  libels  on 
the  garrison  of  the  Columbus  Crescent,  edited  by 
one  Colonel  L.  G.  Faxon,  of  th  >  Tennessee  Ti 
gers,  with  whose  writings  I  was  made  acquaint 
ed  by  General  Prentiss,  to  whom  they  appeared 
to  give  more  annoyance  than  he  was  quite  wise 
in  showing. 

This  is  a  style  of  journalism  which  may  have 
its  merits,  and  which  certainly  is  peculiar;  I  give 
a  few  small  pieces.  "  The  Irish  are  for  us.  and 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


127 


they  will  knock  Bologna  sausages  out  of  the 
Dutch,  and  we  will  knock  wooden  nutmegs  out  of 
the  Yankee?.."  "  The  mosquitoes  of  Cairo  have  been 
sucking  the  lager-bier  out  of  the  dirty  soldiers 
there  so  long,  they  are  bloated  and  swelled  up  as 
large  as  spring  'possums.  An  assortment  of  Co 
lumbus  mosquitoes  went  up  there  the  other  day 
to  suck  some,  but  as  they  have  not  returned,  the 
probability  is  they  went  off  with  delirium  tremens; 
in  fact,  the  blood  of  these  Hessians  would  poi 
son  the  most  degraded  tumble  bug  in  creation." 

Our  editor  is  particularly  angry  about  the  re 
cent  seizure  of  a  Confederate  flag  at  Columbus 
by  Colonel  Oglesby  and  a  party  of  Federals  from 
Cairo.  Speaking  of  a  flag  intended  for  himself, 
he  says,  "Would  that  its  folds  had  contained 
1000  asps  to  sting  1000  Dutchmen  to  eternity 
unshriven."  Our  friend  is  certainly  a  genius. 
His  paper  of  June  the  19th  opens  with  an  apo 
logy  for  the  non-appearance  of  the  journal  for 
several  weeks.  "  Before  leaving,"  he  says,  "we 
engaged  the  services  of  a  competent  editor,  and 
left  a  printer  here  to  issue  the  paper  regularly. 
We  were  detained  several  weeks  beyond  our 
time,  the  aforesaid  printer  promised  faithfully  to 
perform  his  duties,  but  he  left  the  same  day 
we  did,  and  consequently  there  was  no  one  to 
get  out  the  paper.  We  have  the  charity  to  sup 
pose  that  fear  and  bad  whisky  had  nothing  to  do 
with  his  evacuation  of  Columbus."  Another 
elegant  extract  about  the  flag  commences,  "When 
the  bow-legged,  wooden  shoed,  sour  craut  stink 
ing,  Bologna  sausage  eating,  hen  roost  robbing 
Dutch  sons  of had  accomplished  the  bril 
liant  feat  of  taking  down  the  Secession  flag  on 
the  river  bank,  they  were  pointed  to  another 
flag  of  the  same  sort  which  their  guns  did  not 
cover,  flying  gloriously  and  defiantly,  and  dared 
yea !  double  big  black  dog-dared,  as  we  used  to 
Bay  at  school,  to  take  that  flag  down — the  cow 
ardly  pups,  the  thieving  sheep  dogs,  the  sneak 
ing  skunks,  dare  not  do  so,  because  their  twelve 
pieces  of  artillery  were  not  bearing  on  it."  As 
to  the  Federal  commander  at  Cairo,  Colonel 
Faxon's  sentiments  are  unambiguous.  "  The 
qualifications  of  this  man,  Prentiss,"  he  says, 
"  for  the  command  of  such  a  squad  of  villains 
and  cut-throats  are,  that  he  is  a  miserable  hound, 
a  dirty  dog,  a  sociable  fellow,  a  treacherous  vil 
lain,  a  notorious  thief,  a  lying  blackguard,  who 
has  served  his  regular  five  years  in  the  Peniten 
tiary  and  keeps  his  hide  continually  full  of  Cin 
cinnati  whisky,  which  he  buys  by  the  barrel  in 
order  to  save  his  money — in  him  are  embodied 
the  leprous  rascalities  'of  the  world,  and  in  this 
living  score,  the  gallows  is  cheated  of  its  own. 
Prentiss  wants  our  scalp  ;  we  propose  a  plan  by 
which  he  may  get  that  valuable  article.  Let 
him  select  150  of  his  best  fighting  men,  or  250  of 
his  lager-bier  Dutchmen,  we  will  select  100,  then 
let  both  parties  meet  where  there  will  be  no  in 
terruption  at  the  scalping  business,  and  the 
longest  pole  will  knock  the  persimmon.  If  he 
does  not  accept  this  proposal,  he  is  a  coward. 
We  think  this  a  gentlemanly  proposition  and 
'juite  fair  and  equal  to  both  parties." 


CHAPTER  XL. 

Camp  at  Cairo— The  North  and  the  South  in  respect  to 
Europe— Political  reflections — Mr.  Colonel  Oglesby 
—My  speech— Northern  and  Southern  soldiers  com 
pared—American  country-walks— Recklessness  of 
life— Want  of  cavalry— Emeute  in  the  camp— De 
fects  of  army  medical  department — Horrors  of  war 
— Bad  discipline. 

June  2lst. — Verily  I  would  be  sooner  in  the  Cop 
tic  Cairo,  narrow  streeted,  dark  bazaared,  many 
flied,  much  vexed  by  donkeys  and  by  overland 
route  passengers,  than  the  horrid  tongue  of  land 
which  licks  the  muddy  margin  of  the  Ohio  and 
the  Mississippi.  The  thermometer  at  100°  in  the 
shade  before  noon  indicates  nowhere  else  such  an 
amount  of  heat  and  suffering,  and  yet  prostrate 
as  I  was,  it  was  my  fate  to  argue  that  England 
was  justified  in  conceding  belligerent  rights  to 
the  South,  and  that  the  attitude  of  neutrality  we 
had  assumed  in  this  terrible  quarrel  is  not  hi 
effect  an  aggression  on  the  United  States ;  and 
here  is  a  difference  to  be  perceived  between  the 
North  and  the  South. 

The  people  of  the  seceding  States,  aware  in 
their  consciences  that  they  have  been  most  active 
in  their  hostility  to  Great  Britain,  and  whilst  they 
were  in  power  were  mainly  responsible  for  the 
defiant,  irritating,  and  insulting  tone  commonly 
used  to  us  by  American  statesmen,  are  anxious 
at  the  present  moment,  when  so  much  depends 
on  the  action  of  foreign  countries,  to  remove  all 
unfavourable  impressions  from  our  minds  by  de 
clarations  of  good  will  respect,  and  admiration, 
not  quite  compatible  with  the  language  of  their 
leaders  in  tiroes  not  long  gone  by.  The  North, 
as  yet  unconscious  of  the  loss  of  power,  and  rear 
ed  in  a  school  of  menace  and  violent  assertion  of 
their  rights,  regarding  themselves  as  the  whole  of 
the  United  States,  and  animated  by  their  own 
feeling  of  commercial  and  political  opposition  to 
Great  Britain,  maintain  the  high  tone  of  a  people 
who  have  never  known  let  or  hindrance  in  then* 
passions,  and  consider  it  an  outrage  that  the 
whole  world  does  not  join  in  active  sympathy  for 
a  government  which  in  its  brief  career  has  con 
trived  to  affront  every  nation  in  Europe  with 
which  it  had  any  dealings. 

If  the  United  States  have  astonished  France 
by  their  ingratitude,  they  have  certainly  accustom 
ed  England  to  their  petulance,  and  one  can  fancy 
the  satisfaction  with  which  the  Austrian  States 
men  who  remember  Mr.  Webster's  despatch  to 
Mr.  Hulsemann,  contemplate  the  present  condi 
tion  of  the  United  States  in  the  face  of  an  insur 
rection  of  these  sovereign  and  independent  States 
which  the  Cabinet  at  Washington  stigmatises  as 
an  outbreak  of  rebels  and  traitors  to  the  royalty 
of  the  Union. 

During  my  short  sojourn  in  this  country  I  have 
never  yet  met  any  person  who  could  show  me 
where  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union  resides. 
General  Prentiss,  however,  and  his  Illinois  volun 
teers,  are  quite  ready  to  fight  for  it. 

In  the  afternoon  the  General  drove  me  round 
the  camps  in  company  with  Mr.  Washburne, 
Member  of  Congress,  from  Illinois,  his  staff"  and  a 
party  of  officers,  among  whom  was  Mr.  Oglesby, 
colonel  of  a  regiment  of  State  Volunteers,  who 
struck  me  by  his  shrewdness,  simple  honesty,  and 
zeal.*  He  told  me  that  he  had  begun  life  in  the  ut 
most  obscurity,  but  that  somehow  or  other  he  got 
into  a  lawyer's  office,and  there, by  hard  drudgery, by 
*  Since  died  of  wounds  received  in  action. 


128 


MT  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


mother  wit  and  industry,  not  withstanding  a  defec 
tive  education,  he  had  raised  himself  not  only  to 
independence,  but  to  such  a  position  that  1000 
men  had  gathered  at  his  call  and  selected  one 
who  had  never  led  a  company  in  his  life  to  bo 
their  colonel ;  in  fact,  he  is  an  excellent  orator  of 
the  western  school,  and  made  good  homely,  tell 
ing  speeches  to  his  men. 

"  I'm  not  as  good  as  your  Frenchmen  of  the 
schools  of  Paris,  nor  am  I  equal  to  the  Russian 
colonels  I  met  at  St.  Petersburg,  who  sketched 
me  out  how  they  had  beaten  you  Britishers  at 
Sebastopol,"  said  he ;  "  but  I  know  I  can  do  good 
straight  fighting  with  my  boys  when  I  get  a 
chance.  There  is  a  good  deal  in  training,  to  be 
sure,  but  nature  tells  too.  Why  I  believe  I 
would  make  a.  good  artillery  officer  if  I 
was  put  to  it.  General,  you  heard  how  I  laid  one 
of  them  guns  the  other  day  and  touched  her  off'  with 
my  own  hand  and  sent  the  ball  right  into  a  tree 
half-a-mile  away."  The  colonel  evidently  thought 
he  had  by  that  feat  proved  his  fitness  for  the  com 
mand  of  a  field  battery.  One  of  the  German 
officers  who  was  listening  to  the  lively  old  man's 
talk,  whispered  to  me,  "Dereis  a  good  many  of 
tese  colonels  in  dis  camp." 

At  each  station  the  officers  came  out  of  their 
tents,  shook  hands  all  round,  and  gave  an  unfail 
ing  invitation  to  get  down  and  take  a  drink,  and 
the  guns  on  the  General's  approach  fired  salutes, 
as  though  it  was  a  time  of  profoundest  peace. 
Powder  was  certainly  more  plentiful  than  in  the 
Confederate  camps,  where  salutes  are  not  permit 
ted  unless  by  special  order  on  great  occasions. 

The  General  remained  for  some  time  in  the 
camp  of  the  Chicago  light  artillery,  which  was 
commanded  by  a  fine  young  Scotchman  of  the 
Saxon  genus  Smith,  who  told  me  that  the  pri 
vates  of  his  company  represented  a  million  and  a 
half  of  dollars  in  property.  Their  guns,  horses, 
carriages,  and  accoutrements  were  all  in  the  most 
creditable  order,  and  there  was  an  air  about  the 
men  and  about  their  camp  which  showed  they 
did  not  belong  to  the  same  class  as  the  better 
disciplined  Hungarians  of  Milotzky  close  at  hand. 

"Whilst  we  were  seated  in  Captain  Smith's  tent, 
a  number  of  the  privates  came  forward,  and  sang 
the  "  Star-spangled  banner  "  and  a  patriotic  song, 
to  the  air  of  "  God  save  the  Queen,"  and  the  rest 
of  the  artillerymen,  and  a  number  of  stragglers 
from  the  other  camps,  assembled  and  then  formed 
line  behind  the  singers.  When  the  chorus  was 
over  there  arose  a  great  shout  for  Washburne, 
and  the  honourable  Congressman  was  fain  to  come 
forward  and  make  a  speech,  in  which  he  assured 
his  hearers  of  a  very  speedy  victory  and  the  ad 
vent  of  liberty  all  over  the  land.  Then  "  General 
Prentiss  "  was  called  for ;  and  as  citizen  soldiers 
command  their  Generals  on  such  occasions,  he  too 
was  obliged  to  speak,  and  to  tell  his  audience 
"  the  world  had  never  seen  any  men  more  de 
voted,  gallant,  or  patriotic  than  themselves." 
"Oglesby"was  next  summoned,  and  the  tall, 
portly,  good-humoured  old  man  stepped  to  the 
front,  and  with  excellent  tact  and  good  sense, 
dished  up  in  the  Buncombe  style,  told  them  the 
time  for  making  speeches  had  passed,  indeed  it 
had  lasted  too  long ;  and  although  it  was  said 
there  was  very  little  fighting  when  there  was 
much  talking,  he  believed  too  much  talking  was 
likely  to  lead  to  a  great  deal  more  fighting  than 
any  one  desired  to  see  between  citizens  of  the 


United  States  of  America,  except  their  enemies, 
who,  no  doubt,  were  much  better  pleased  to  see 
Americans  fighting  each  other  than  to  find  them 
engaged  in  any  other  employment.  Great  as  the 
mischief  of  too  much  talking  had  been,  too  much 
writing  had  far  more  of  the  mischief  to  answer 
for.  The  pen  was  keener  than  the  tongue,  hit 
harder,  and  left  a  more  incurable  wound ;  but  the 
pen  was  better  than  the  tongue,  because  it  was 
able  to  cure  the  mischief  it  had  inflicted."  And 
so  by  a  series  of  sentences  the  Colonel  got  round 
to  me,  and  to  my  consternation,  remembering 
how  I  had  fared  with  my  speech  at  the  little  pri 
vate  dinner  on  St.  Patrick's  Day  in  New  York,  I 
was  called  upon  by  stentorian  lungs,  and  hustled 
to  the  stump  by  a  friendly  circle,  till  I  escaped 
by  uttering  a  few  sentences  as  to  "  mighty  strug 
gle,"  "  Europe  gazing,"  "  the  world  anxious," 
"  the  virtues  of  discipline,"  "  the  admirable  lessons 
"of  a  soldier's  life,"  and  the  "aspiration  that  in  a 
quarrel  wherein  a  British  subject  was  ordered,  by 
an  authority  he  was  bound  to  respect,  to  remain 
neutral,  God  might  preserve  the  right." 

Colonel,  General,  and  all  addressed  the  soldiers 
as  "  gentlemen,"  and  their  auditory  did  not  on 
their  part  refrain  from  expressing  their  sentiments 
in  the  most  unmistakeable  manner.  i;  Bully  for 
you,  General  1"  "  Bravo,  Washburne  1"  "That's 
so,  Colonel!"  and  the  like,  interrupted  the  ha 
rangues,  and  when  the  oratorical  exercises  were 
over  the  men  crowded  round  the  staff",  cheered 
and  hurrahed,  and  tossed  up  their  caps  in  the 
greatest  delight. 

With  the  exception  of  the  foreign  officers,  and 
some  of  the  Staff',  there  are  very  few  of  the  colo 
nels,  majors,  captains,  or  lieutenants  who  know 
anything  of  their  business.  The  men  do  not  care 
for  them,  and  never  think  of  saluting  them.  A 
regiment  of  Germans  was  sent  across  from  Bird's 
Point  this  evening  for  plundering  and  robbing  the 
houses  in  the  district  in  which  they  were  quar 
tered. 

It  may  be  readily  imagined  that  the  scoundrels 
who  had  to  fly  from  every  city  in  Europe  before 
the  face  of  the  police  will  not 'stay  their  hands 
when  they  find  themselves  masters  of  the  situa 
tion  in  the  so-called  country  of  an  enemy.  In 
such  matters  the  officers  have  little  or  no  control, 
and  discipline  is  exceedingly  lax,  and  punish 
ments  but  sparingly  inflicted,  the  use  of  the  lash 
being  forbidden  altogether.  Fine  as  the  men  are, 
incomparably  better  armed,  clad — and  doubtless 
better  fed — than  the  Southern  troops,  they  will 
scarcely  meet  them  man  to  man  in  the  field  with 
any  chance  of  success.  Among  the  officers  are 
bar-room  keepers,  persons  little  above  the  posi 
tion  of  potmen  in  England,  grocers'  apprentices, 
and  such  like — often  inferior  socially,  and  in  every 
other  respect,  to  the  men  whom  they  are  suppos 
ed  to  command.  General  Prentiss  has  seen  ser 
vice,  I  believe,  in  Mexico  ;  but  he  appears  to  me 
to  be  rather  an  ardent  politician,  embittered 
against  slaveholders  and  the  South,  than  a  judi 
cious  or  skilful  military  leader. 

The  principles  on  which  these  isolated  com 
manders  carry  on  the  war  are  eminently  defect 
ive.  They  apply  their  whole  minds  to  petty  ex 
peditions,  which  go  out  from  the  camps,  attack 
some  Secessionist  gathering,  and  then  return, 
plundering  as  they  go  and  come,  exasperating 
enemies,  converting  neutrals  into  opponents,  dis 
gusting  friends,  and  leaving  it  to  the  Secession- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


129 


ists  to  boast  that  they  have  repulsed  them.  In 
stead  of  encouraging  the  men  and  improving 
their  discipline  these  ill-conducted  expeditions 
have  an  opposite  result. 

June  22nd — An  active  man  would  soon  go  mad 
if  he  were  confined  in  Cairo.  A  mudbank  stretch 
ing  along  the  course  of  a  muddy  river  is  not  at 
tractive  to  a  pedestrian ;  and,  as  is  the  case  in 
most  of  the  Southern  cities,  there  is  no  place 
round  Cairo  where  a  man  can  stretch  his  legs  or 
take  an  honest  walk  in  the  country.  A  walk  in 
the  country !  The  Americans  have  not  an  idea 
of  what  the  thing  means.  I  speak  now  only  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  of  the  States  through 
which  I  have  passed,  as  far  as  I  have  seen  of 
them.  The  roads  are  either  impassable  in  mud 
or  knee-deep  in  dust.  There  are  no  green  shady 
lanes,  no  sheltering  groves,  no  quiet  paths 
through  green  meadows  beneath  umbrageous 
trees.  Off  the  rail  there  is  a  morass — or,  at  best, 
a  clearing — full  of  stumps.  No  temptations  to 
take  a  stroll.  Down  away  South  the  planters 
ride  or  drive ;  indeed  in  many  places  the  saun- 
terer  by  the  way-side  would  probably  encounter 
<in  alligator,  or  disturb  a  society  of  rattle-snakes. 

To-day  I  managed  to  struggle  along  the  levee 
in  a  kind  of  sirocco,  and  visited  the  works  at  the 
extremity,  which  were  constructed  by  an  Hunga 
rian  named  Waagner,  one  of  the  emigres  who 
came  with  Kossuth  to  the  United  States.  I  found 
him  in  a  hut  full  of  flies,  suffering  from  camp 
diarrhoea,  and  waited  on  by  Mr.  O'Leary,  who 
was  formerly  petty  officer  in  our  navy,  served  in 
the  Furious  in  the  Black  Sea,  and  in  the  Shannon 
Brigade  in  India,  now  a  lieutenant  in  the  United 
States'  army,  where  I  should  say  he  feels  himself 
very  much  out  of  place.  The  Hungarian  and  the 
Milesian  were,  however,  quite  agreed  about  the 
utter  incompetence  of  their  military  friends  around 
them,  and  the  great  merits  of  heavy  artillery. 
"  When  I  tell  them  here  the  way  poor  Sir  Wil 
liam  made  us  rattle  about  them  68 -pounder  guns, 
the  poor  ignorant  creatures  laugh  at  me — not  one 
of  them  believes  it."  "It  is  most  astonishing," 
says  the  colonel,  "  how  ignorant  they  are :  there 
is  not  one  of  these  men  who  can  trace  a  regular 
work.  Of  Westpoint  men  I  speak  not,  but  of 
the  people  about  here,  and  they  will  not  learn  of 
me — from  me  who  knows."  However,  the  works 
were  well  enough,  strongly  covered,  commanded 
both  rivers,  and  not  to  be  reduced  without  trou 
ble. 

The  heat  drove  me  in  among  the  flies  of  the 
crowded  hotel,  where  Brigadier  Prentiss  is  plan 
ning  one  of  those  absurd  expeditions  against  a 
Secessionist  camp  at  Commerce,  in  the  State  of 
Missouri,  about  two  hours'  steaming  up  the  river, 
and  some  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  inland.  Cairo 
abounds  in  Secessionists  and  spies,  and  it  is  need 
ful  to  take  great  precautions  lest  the  expedition 
be  known ;  but,  after  all,  stores  must  be  got 
ready,  and  put  on  board  th**steamers,  and  prepa 
rations  must  be  made  which  cannot  be  concealed 
from  the  world.  At  dusk  700  men,  supported  by 
a  six  pounder  field-piece,  were  put  on  board  the 
"  City  of  Alton,"  on  which  they  clustered  like 
bees  in  a  swarm,  and  as  the  huge  engine  labour 
ed  up  and  down  against  the  stream,  and  the  boat 
swayed  from  side  to  side,  I  felt  a  considerable  de 
sire  to  see  General  Prentiss  chucked  into  the 
stream  for  his  utter  recklessness  in  cramming  on 
board  one  huge  tinder-box,  all  fire  and  touch- 
I 


wood,  so  many  human  beings,  who,  in  event  of 
an  explosion,  or  a  shot  in  the  boiler,  or  of  a  heavy 
musketry  fire  on  the  banks,  would  have  been  con 
verted  into  a  great  slaughter-house.  One  small 
boat  hung  from  her  stern,  and  although  there 
were  plenty  of  river  flats  and  numerous  steamers, 
even  the  horses  belonging  to  the  field-piece  were 
crammed  in  among  the  men  along  the  deck. 

In  my  letter  to  Europe  I  made,  at  the  time, 
some  remarks  by  which  the  belligerents  might 
have  profited,  and  which  at  the  time  these  pages 
are  reproduced  may  strike  them  as  possessing 
some  value,  illustrated  as  they  have  been  by 
many  events  in  the  war.  "  A  handful  of  horse 
men  would  have  been  admirable  to  move  in  ad 
vance,  feel  the  covers,  and  make  prisoners  for 
political  or  other  purposes  in  case  of  flight ;  but 
the  Americans  persist  in  ignoring  the  use  of 
horsemen,  or  at  least  in  depreciating  it,  though 
they  will  at  last  find  that  they  may  shed  much 
blood,  and  lose  much  more,  before  they  can  gain 
a  victory  without  the  aid  of  artillery  and  charges 
after  the  retreating  enemy.  From"  the  want  of 
cavalry,  I  suppose  it  is,  the  unmilitary  practice 
of  '  scouting,'  as  it  is  called  here,  has  arisen.  It 
is  all  very  well  in  the  days  of  Indian  wars  for  foot 
men  to  creep  about  in  the  bushes,  and  shoot  or 
be  shot  by  sentries  and  pickets  ;  but  no  civilised 
war  recognises  such  means  of  annoyance  as  firing 
upon  sentinels,  unless  in  case  of  an  actual  advance 
or  feigned  attack  on  the  line.  No  camp  can  be 
safe  without  cavalry  videttes  and  pickets ;  for 
the  enemy  can  pour  in  impetuously  after  the 
alarm  has  been  given,  as  fast  as  the  outlying  foot 
men  can  run  in.  In  feeling  the  way  for  a  column, 
cavalry  are  invaluable,  and  there  can  be  little 
chance  of  ambuscades  or  surprises  where  they 
are  judiciously  employed ;  but  '  scouting '  on 
foot,  or  adventurous  private  expeditions  on  horse 
back,  to  have  a  look  at  the  enemy,  can  do,  and 
will  do,  nothing  but  harm.  Every  day  the 
papers  contain  accounts  of  '  scouts  '  being  killed, 
and  sentries  being  picked  off.  The  latter  is  a 
very  barbarous  and  savage  practice;  and  the 
Russian,  in  his  most  angry  moments,  abstained 
from  it.  If  any  officer  wishes  to  obtain  informa 
tion  as  to  his  enemy,  he  has  two  ways  of  doing 
it.  He  can  employ  spies,  who  carry  their  lives 
in  their  hands,  or  he  can  beat  up  their  quarters 
by  a  proper  reconnoissance  on  his  own  responsi 
bility,  in  which,  however,  it  would  be  advisable 
not  to  trust  his  force  to  a  railway  train." 

At  night  there  was  a  kind  of  emeute  in  camp, 
The  day,  as  I  have  said,  was  excessively  hot,  and 
on  returning  to  their  tents  and  huts  from  evening 
parade  the  men  found  the  contractor  who  supplies 
them  with  water  had  not  filled  the  barrels ;  so 
they  forced  the  sentries,  broke  barracks  after 
hours,  mobbed  their  officers,  and  streamed  up  to 
the  hotel,  which  they  surrounded,  calling  out, 
"  Water,  water,"  in  chorus.  The  General  came 
out,  and  got  up  on  a  rail :  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he, 
"  it  is  not  my  fault  you  are  without  water.  It's 
your  officers  who  are  to  blame,  not  me."  ("Groan? 
for  the  Quartermaster,"  from  the  men.)  "If  it  is 
the  fault  of  the  contractor,  I'll  see  that  he  if 
punished.  I'll  take  steps  at  once  to  see  that  th . 
matter  is  remedied.  And  now,  gentlemen,  I 
hope  you'll  go  back  to  your  quarters;"  and  the 
gentlemen  took  it  into  their  .heads  very  good- 
humouredly  to  obey  the  suggestion,  fell  in,  and 
marched  back  two  deep  to  their  huts. 


130 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


As  the  General  was  smoking  his  cigar  before 
going  to  bed,  I  asked  him  why  the  officers  had 
not  more  control  over  the  men.  "  Well,"  said 
he,  "  the  officers  are  to  blame  for  all  this.  The 
truth  is,  the  term  for  which  these  volunteers  en 
listed  is  drawing  to  a  close ;  and  they  have  not 
as  yet  enrolled  themselves  in  the  United  States' 
Army.  They  are  merely  volunteer  regiments  of 
the  State  of  Illinois.  If  they  were  displeased 
with  anything,  therefore,  they  might  refuse  to 
enter  the  service  or  to  take  fresh  engagements ; 
and  the  officers  would  find  themselves  suddenly 
left  without  any  men ;  they  therefore  curry  favour 
with  the  privates,  many  of  them,  too,  having  an 
eye  to  the  votes  of  the  men  when  the  elections 
of  officers  in  the  new  regiments  are  to  take 
place." 

The  contractors  have  commenced  plunder  on  a 
gigantic  scale ;  and  their  influence  with  the  autho 
rities  of  the  State  is  so  powerful,  there  is  little 
chance  of  punishing  them.  Besides,  it  is  not 
considered  expedient  to  deter  contractors,  by  too 
scrupulous  an  exactitude,  in  coming  forward  at 
such  a  trying  period;  and  the  Quartermaster's 
department,  which  ought  to  be  the  most  perfect, 
considering  the  number  of  persons  connected 
with  transport  and  carriage,  is  in  a  most  disgrace 
ful  and  inefficient  condition.  I  told  the  General 
that  one  of  the  Southern  leaders  proposed  to 
hang  any  contractor  who  was  found  out  in  cheat 
ing  the  men,  and  that  the  press  cordially  ap 
proved  of  the  suggestion.  "I  am  afraid,"  said 
he,  "  if  any  such  proposal  was  carried  out  here, 
there  would  scarcely  be  a  contractor  left  through 
out  the  States."  Equal  ignorance  is  shown  by 
the  medical  authorities  of  the  requirements  of  an 
army.  There  is  not  an  ambulance  or  cacolet  of 
any  kind  attached  to  this  camp  ;  and,  as  far  as  I 
could  see,  not  even  a  litter  was  sent  on  board  the 
steamer  which  has  started  with  the  expedition. 

Although  there  has  scarcely  been  a  fought 
field  or  anything  more  serious  than  the  miserable 
skirmishes  of  Shenck  and  Butler,  the  pressure  of 
war  has  already  told  upon  the  people.  The  Cairo 
paper  makes  an  urgent  appeal  to  the  authorities 
to  relieve  the  distress  and  pauperism  which  the 
sudden  interruption  of  trade  has  brought  upon  so 
many  respectable  citizens.  And  when  I  was  at 
Memphis  the  other  day,  I  observed  a  public  notice 
in  the  journals,  that  the  magistrates  of  the  city 
would  issue  orders  for  money  to  families  left  in 
distress  by  the  enrolment  of  the  male  members 
for  military  service.  "When  General  Scott,  sorely 
against  his  will,  was  urged  to  makev-preparations 
for  an  armed  invasion  of  the  seceded  states  in 
case  it  became  necessary,  he  said  it  would  need 
some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  and  many 
millions  of  money  to  effect  that  object.  Mr. 
Seward,  Mr.  Chase,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  laughed 
pleasantly  at  this  exaggeration,  but  they  have 
begun  to  find  by  this  time  the  old  general  was 
not  quite  so  much  in  the  wrong. 

In  reference  to  the  discipline  maintained  in  the 
camp,  I  must  admit  that  proper  precautions  are 
used  to  prevent  spies  entering  the  lines.  The 
sentries  are  posted  closely,  and  permit  no  one  to 
go  in  without  a  pass  in  the  day  and  a  counter- 
Bign  at  night.  A  conversation  with  General 
Prentiss  in  the  front  of  the  hotel  was  interrupted 
this  evening  by  an  Irishman,  who  ran  past  us 
towards  the  camp,  hotly  pursued  by  two  police 
men.  The  sentry  on  duty  at  the  point  of  the 


lines  close  to  us  brought  him  up  by  the  point  of 
the  bayonet.  "Who  goes  tere?"  "  A  friend, 
shure,  your  honour ;  I'm  a  friend."  "  Advance 
three  paces  and  give  the  countersign."  "  I  don't 
know  it,  I  tell  you.  Let  me  in,  let  me  in."  But 
the  German  was  resolute,  and  the  policemen  now 
coming  up  in  hot  pursuit,  seized  the  culprit,  who 
resisted  violently,  till  General  Prentiss  rose  from 
his  chair  and  ordered  the  guard,  who  had  turned 
out,  to  make  a  prisoner  of  the  soldier,  and  hand 
him  over  to  the  civil  power,  for  which  the  man 
seemed  to  be  most  deeply  grateful.  As  the 
policemen  were  walking  off,  he  exclaimed,  "  Be 
quiet  wid  ye,  till  I  spake  a  word  to  the  Gineral," 
and  then  bowing  and  chuckling  with  drunken 
gravity  he  said,  "  an'  indeed,  Gineral,  I'm  much 
obleeged  to  ye  altogither  for  this  kindness.  Long 
life  to  ye.  We've  got  the  better  of  that  dirty 
German.  Hoora  for  Gineral  Prentiss."  He  pre 
ferred  a  chance  of  more  whisky  in  the  police  office 
and  a  light  punishment  to  the  work  in  camp  and 
a  heavy  drill  in  the  morning.  An  officer  who 
was  challenged  by  a  sentry  the  other  evening, 
asked  him,  "  do  you  know  the  countersign  your 
self?"  "  No,  sir,  it's  not  nine  o'clock,  and  they 
have  not  given  it  out  yet."  Another  sentry  who 
stopped  a  man  because  he  did  not  know  the 
countersign.  The  fellow  said,  "I  dare  say  you 
don't  know  it  yourself."  "  That's  a  lie,"  he  ex 
claimed,  "  it's  Pittsburgh."  "  Pittsburgh  it  is, 
sure  enough,"  said  the  other,  and  walked  on 
without  further  parley. 

The  Americans,  Irish,  and  Germans,  do  not 
always  coincide  in  the  phonetic  value  of  each 
letter  in  the  passwords,  and  several  difficulties 
have  occUrred  in  consequence.  An  incautious 
approach  towards  the  posts  at  night  is  attended 
with  risk ;  for  the  raw  sentries  are  very  quick  on 
the  trigger.  More  fatal  and  serious  injuries  have 
been  inflicted  on  the  Federals  by  themselves 
than  by  the  enemy.  "  I  declare  to  you,  sir,  the 
way  the  boys  touched  off  their  irons  at  me  going 
home  to  my  camp  last  night,  was  just  like  a  run 
ning  fight  with  the  Ingins.  I  was  a  little  '  tight,' 
and  didn't  mind  it  a  cuss." 


CHAPTER  XLL 

Impending  battle — By  railway  to  Chicago — Northern 
enlightenment — Mound  City — "Cotton  is  King"— 
Land  in  the  States — Dead  level  of  American  society — 
Return  into  the  Union — American  homes — Across  the 
prairie— White  labourers— New  pillager— Lake  Michi 
gan. 

June  23rd — The  latest  information  which  I 
received  to-day  is  of  a  nature  to  hasten  my  de 
parture  for  Washington;  it  can  no  longer  be 
doubted  that  a  battle  between  the  two  armies 
assembled  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  capital  is 
imminent.  The  vague  hope  which  from  time  to 
time  I  have  entertained  of  being  able  to  visit 
Richmond  before  I  finally  take  up  my  quarters 
with  the  only  army  from  which  I  can  communi 
cate  regularly  with  Europe  has  now  vanished. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  evening  I  started  by  the 
train  on  the  famous  Central  Illinois  line  from 
Cairo  to  Chicago. 

The  carriages  were  tolerably  well  filled  with 
soldiers,  and  in  addition  to  them  there  were  a 
few  unfortunate  women,  undergoing  deportation 
to  some  less  moral  neighbourhood.  Neither  the 


MT  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


,„ 


look,  language,  nor  manners  of  my  fellow  passen 
gers  inspired  me  with  an  exalted  notion  of  the 
intelligence,  comfort  and  respectability  of  the 
people  which  are  so  much  vaunted  by  Mr.  Sew- 
ard  and  American  journals,  and  which,  though 
truly  attributed,  no  doubt,  to  the  people  of  the 
New  England  states,  cannot  be  affirmed  with 
equal  justice  to  belong  to  all  the  other  compo 
nents  of  the  Union. 

As  the  Southerners  say,  their  negroes  are  the; 
happiest  people  on  the  earth,  so  the  Northerners 
boast  "  We  are  the  most  enlightened  nation  in 
the  world."  The  soldiers  in  the  train  were  in 
telligent  enough  to  think  they  ought  not  to  be 
kept  without  pay,  and  free  enough  to  say  so. 
The  soldiers  abused  Cairo  roundly,  and  indeed  it 
is  wonderful  if  the  people  can  live  on  any  food 
but  quinine.  However,  speculators,  looking  to 
its  natural  advantages  as  the  point  where  the  two 
great  rivers  join,  bespeak  for  Cairo  a  magnificent 
and  prosperous  future.  The  present  is  not  pro 
mising. 

Leaving  the  shanties,  which  face  the  levees, 
and  some  poor  wooden  houses-  with  a  short  vista 
of  cross  streets  partially  flooded  at  right  angles  to 
them,  the  rail  suddenly  plunges  into  an  unmis- 
takeable  swamp,  where  a  forest  of  dead  trees 
wave  their  ghastly,  leafless  arms  over  their 
buried  trunks,  like  plumes  over  a  hearse — a 
cheerless,  miserable  place,  sacred  to  the  ague  and 
fever.  This  occurs  close  to  the  cleared  space  on 
which  the  city  is  to  stand, — when  it  is  finished — 
and  the  rail,  which  runs  on  the  top  of  the  em 
bankment  or  levee,  here  takes  to  the  trestle,  and 
is  borne  over  the  water  on  the  usual  timber  frame 
work. 

"Mound  City,"  which  is  the  first  station,  is 
composed  of  a  mere  heap  of  earth,  like  a  ruined 
brick-kiln,  which  rises  to  some  height  and  is 
covered  with  fine  white  oaks,  beneath  which  are 
a  few  log  huts  and  hovels,  giving  the  place  its 
proud  name.  Tents  were  pitched  on  the  mound 
side,  from  which  wild-looking  banditti  sort  of 
men,  with  arms,  emerged  as  the  train  stopped. 
"I've  been  pretty  well  over  Europe,"  said  a  me 
ditative  voice  beside  me,  "  and  I've  seen  the 
despotic  armies  of  the  old  world,  but  I  don't 
think  they  equal  that  set  of  boys."  The  question 
was  not  worth  arguing — the  boys  were  in  fact 
"  very  weedy,"  "  splinter-shinned  chaps,"  as 
another  critic  insisted. 

There  were  some  settlers  in  the  woods  around 
Mound  City,  and  a  jolly-looking,  corpulent  man, 
who  introduced  himself  as  one  of  the  officers  of 
the  land  department  of  the  Central  Illinois  rail 
road,  described  them  as  awful  warnings  to  the 
emigrants  not  to  stick  in  the  south  part  of  Illi 
nois.  It  was  suggestive  to  find  that  a  very 
genuine  John  Bull,  "  located,"  as  they  say  in  the 
States,  for  many  years,  had  as  much  aversion  to 
the  principles  of  the  abolitionists  as  if  he  had 
been  born  a  Southern  planter.  Another  country 
man  of  his  and  mine,  steward  on  board  the 
steamer  to  Cairo,  eagerly  asked  me  what  I 
thought  of  the  quarrel,  and  which  side  I  would 
back.  I  declined  to  say  more  than  I  thought  the 
North  possessed  very  great  superiority  of  means 
if  the  conflict  were  to  be  fought  on  the  same 
terms.  Whereupon  my  Saxon  friend  exclaimed, 
"  all  the  Northern  States  and  all  the  power  of  the 
world  can't  beat  the  South;  and  why? — because 
the  South  has  got  cotton,  and  cotton  is  king." 


The  Central  Illinois  officer  did  not  suggest  the 
propriety  of  purchasing  lots,  but  he  did  intimate  I 
would  be  doing  service  if  I  informed  the  world  at 
large,  they  could  get  excellent  land,  at  sums 
varying  from  ten  to  twenty-five  dollars  an  acre. 
In  America  a  man's  income  is  represented  by 
capitalizing  all  that  he  is  worth,  and  whereas  in 
England  we  say  a  man  has  so  much  a  year,  the 
Americans,  in  representing  his  value,  observe 
-that  he  is  worth  so  many  dollars,  by  which  they 
mean  that  all  he  has  in  the  world  would  realise 
the  amount. 

It  sounds  very  well  to  an  Irish  tenant  farmer, 
an  English  cottier,  or  a  cultivator  in  the  Lothians, 
to  hear  that  he  can  get  land  at  the  rate  of  from 
£2  to  £5  per  acre,  to  be  his  for  ever,  liable  only 
to  state  taxes  ;  but  when  he  comes  to  see  a  par 
allelogram  marked  upon  the  map  as  "  good  soil, 
of  unfathomable  richness,"  and  finds  in  effect 
that  he  must  cut  down  trees,  eradicate  stumps, 
drain  off  water,  build  a  house,  struggle  for  high- 
priced  labour,  and  contend  with  imperfect  roads, 
the  want  of  many  things  to  which  he  has  been 
accustomed  in  the  old  country,  the  land  may  not 
appear  to  him  such  a  bargain.  In  the  wooded 
districts  he  has,  indeed,  a  sufficiency  of  fuel  as 
long  as  trees  and  stumps  last,  but  they  are,  of 
course,  great  impediments  to  tillage.  If  he  goes 
to  the  prairie  he  finds  that  fuel  is  scarce  and 
water  by  no  means  wholesome. 

When  we  left  this  swamp  and  forest,  and  came 
out  after  a  run  of  many  miles  on  the  clear  lands 
which  abut  upon  the  prairie,  large  fields  of  corn 
lay.  around  us,  which  bore  a  peculiarly  blighted 
and  harassed  look.  These  fields  were  suffering 
from  the  ravages  of  an  insect  called  the  "  army 
worm,"  almost  as  destructive  to  corn  and  crops 
as  the  locust-like  hordes  of  North  and  South, 
which  are  vying  with  each  other  in  laying  waste 
the  fields  of  Virginia.  Night  was  falling  as  the 
train  rattled  out  into  the  wild,  flat  sea  of  waving 
grass,  dotted  by  patch-like  Indian  corn  enclo 
sures  ;  but  halts  at  such  places  as  Jonesburgh 
and  Cobden,  enabled  us  to  see  that  these  settle 
ments  in  Illinois  were  neither  very  flourishing 
nor  very  civilised. 

There  is  a  level  modicum  of  comfort,  which 
may  be  consistent  with  the  greatest  good  of  the 
greatest  number,  but  which  makes  the  standard 
of  the  highest  in  point  of  well-being  very  low 
indeed.  I  own,  that  to  me,  it  would  be  more 
agreeable  to  see  a  flourishing  community  placed 
on  a  high  level  in  all  that  relates  to  the  comfort 
and  social  status  of  all  its  members  than  to 
recognise  the  old  types  of  European  civilisation^ 
which  place  the  castle  on  the  hill,  surround  its 
outer  walls  with  the  mansion  of  doctor  and  law 
yer,  and  drive  the  people  into  obscure  hovels 
outside.  But  then  one  must  confess  that  there 
are  in  the  castle  some  elevating  tendencies  which 
cannot  be  found  in  the  uniform  level  of  citizen 
equality.  There  are  traditions  of  nobility  and 
noble  deeds  in  the  family ;  there  are  paintings  on 
the  walls ;  the  library  is  stored  with  valuable 
knowledge,  and  from  its  precincts  are  derived 
the  lessons  not  yet  unlearned  in  Europe,  that 
though  man  may  be  equal  the  condition  of  men 
must  vary  as  the  accidents  of  life  or  the  effects 
of  individual  character,  called  fortune,  may  deter 
mine. 

The  towns  of  Jonesburgh  and  Cobden  hare 
their  little  teapot-looking  churches  and  meeting- 


132 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


houses,  their  lager-bier  saloons,  their  restaurants, 
their  small  libraries,  institutes,  and  rending  rooms, 
and  no  doubt  they  have  also  their  political  cliques, 
social  distinctions  and  favouritisms;  but  it  re 
quires,  nevertheless,  little  sagacity  to  perceive 
that  the  highest  of  the  bourgeois  who  leads  the 
mass  at  meeting  and  prayer,  has  but  little  to  dis 
tinguish  him  from  the  very  lowest  member  of  the 
same  body  politic.  Cobden,  for  example,  has  no 
less  than  four  drinking  saloons,  all  on  the  line  of 
rail,  and  no  doubt  the  highest  citizen  in  the  place 
frequents  some  one  or  other  of  them,  and  meets 
there  the  worst  rowdy  in  the  place.  Even 
though  they  do  carry  a  vote  for  each  adult  man, 
"  locations"  here  would  not  appear  very  enviable 
in  the  eyes  of  the  most  miserable  Dorsetshire 
small  farmer  ever  ferreted  out  by  "  S.  G-.  0." 

A  considerable  number  of  towns,  formed  by 
accretions  of  small  stores  and  drinking  places, 
called  magazines,  round  ^he  original  shed  wherein 
live  the  station  master  and  his  assistants,  mark 
the  course  of  the  railway.  Some  are  important 
enough  to  possess  a  bank,  which  is  generally 
represented  by  a  wooden  hut,  with  a  large  board 
nailed  in  front,  bearing  the  names  of  the  presi 
dent  and  cashier,  and  announcing  the  success  and 
liberality  of  the  management.  The  stores  are 
also  decorated  with  large  signs,  recommending 
the  names  of  the  owners  to  the  attention  of  the 
public,  and  over  all  of  them  is  to  be  seen  the 
significant  announcement,  "  Cash  for  produce." 

At  Carbondale  there  was  no  coal  at  all  to  be 
found,  but  several  miles  farther  to  the  north,  at  a 
place  called  Dugoine,  a  field  of  bituminous  deposit 
crops  out,  which  is  sold  at  the  pit's  mouth  for 
one  dollar  twenty-five  cents,  or  about  5s.  Id.  a- ton. 
Darkness  and  night  fell  as  I  was  noting  such 
meagre  particulars  of  the  new  district  as  could  be 
learned  out  of  the  window  of  a  railway  carriage  ; 
and  finally  with  a  delicious  sensation  of  cool  night 
air  creeping  in  through  the  windows,  the  first  I 
had  experienced  for  many  a  long  day,  we  made 
ourselves  up  for  repose,  and  were  borne  steadily, 
if  not  rapidly,  through  the  great  prairie,  having 
halted  for  tea  at  the  comfortable  refreshment 
rooms  of  Centralia. 

There  were  no  physical  signs  to  mark  the 
transition  from  the  land  of  the  Secessionist  to 
Union-loving  soil.  Until  the  troops  were  quar 
tered  there,  Cairo  was  for  Secession,  and  South 
ern  Illinois  is  supposed  to  be  deeply  tainted  with 
disaffection  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  Placards  on  which 
were  printed  the  words,  "  Vote  for  Lincoln  and 
Hamlin,  for  Union  and  Freedom,"  and  the  old 
battle-cry  of  the  last  election,  still  cling  to  the 
wooden  walls  of  the  groceries  often  accompanied 
by  bitter  words  or  offensive  additions. 

One  of  my  friends  argues  that  as  slavery  is  at 
the  base  of  Secession,  it  follows  that  States  or 
portions  of  States  will  be  disposed  to  join  the 
Confederates  or  the  Federalists  just  as  the  climate 
may  be  favourable  or  adverse  to  the  growth  of 
slave  produce.  Thus  in  the  mountainous  parts 
of  the  border  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
in  the  north-western  part  of  Virginia,  vulgarly 
called  the  pan  handle,  and  in  the  pine  woods  of 
North  Carolina,  where  white  men  can  work  at 
the  rosin  and  naval  store  manufactories,  there  is 
a  decided  feeling  in  favour  of  the  Union ;  in  fact, 
it  becomes  a  matter  of  isothermal  lines.  It 
would  be  very  wrong  to  judge  of  the  condition 
of  a  people  from  the  windows  of  a  railway  car 


nage,  but  the  external  aspect  of  the  settlements 
along  the  line,  far  superior  to  that  of  slave  ham 
lets,  does  not  equal  my  expectations.  "We  all 
know  the  aspect  of  a  wood  in  a  gentleman's  park 
which  is  submitting  to  the  axe,  and  has  been 
partially  cleared,  how  raw  and  bleak  the  stumps 
look,  and  how  dreary  is  the  naked  land  not  yet 
turned  into  arable.  Take  such  a  patch  and  fancy 
four  or  five  houses  made  of  pine  planks,  some 
times  not  painted,  lighted  by  windows  in  which 
there  is,  or  has  been,  glass,  each  guarded  by  a 
paling  around  a  piece  of  vegetable  garden,  a  pig 
house,  and  poultry  box;  let  one  be  a  grocery, 
which  means  a  whisky  shop,  another  the  post- 
office,  and  a  third  the  store  where  "  cash  is  given 
for  produce."  Multiply  these  groups  if  you 
desire  a  larger  settlement,  and  place  a  wooden 
church  with  a  Brobdignag  spire  and  Lilliputian 
body  out  in  a  waste,  to  be  approached  only  by  a 
causeway  of  planks ;  before  each  grocery  let  there 
be  a  gathering  of  tall  men  in  sombre  clothing,  of 
whom  the  majority  have  small  newspapers  and 
all  of  whom  are  chewing  tobacco ;  near  the  stores 
let  there  be  some  light  wheeled  carts  and  ragged 
horses,  around  which  are  knots  of  unmistakeably 
German  women ;  then  see  the  deep  tracks  which 
lead  off  to  similar  settlements  in  the  forest  or 
prairie,  and  you  have  a  notion,  if  your  imagination 
is  strong  enough,  of  one  of  these  civilising  centres 
which  the  Americans  assert  to  be  the  homes  of 
the  most  cultivated  and  intelligent  communities 
in  the  world. 

Next  morning,  just  at  dawn,  I  woke  up  and 
got  out  on  the  platform  of  the  carriage,  which  is 
the  favourite  resort  of  smokers  and  their  antithe- 
tics,  those  Who  love  pure  fresh  air,  notwithstand 
ing  the  printed  caution  "  It  is  dangerous  to  stand 
on  the  platform ;  "  and  under  the  eye  of  early 
morn  saw  spread  around  a  flat  sea-like  expanse 
not  yet  warmed  into  colour  and  life  by  the  sun. 
The  line  was  no  longer  guarded  from  daring 
Secessionists  by  soldiers'  outposts,  and  small 
camps  had  disappeared.  The  train  sped  through 
the  centre  of  the  great  verdant  circle  as  a  ship 
through  the  sea,  leaving  the  rigid  iron  wake 
behind  it  tapering  to  a  point  at  the  horizon,  and 
as  the  light  spread  over  it  the  surface  of  the 
crisping  corn  waved  in  broad  undulations  beneath 
the  breeze  from  east  to  west.  This  is  the  prairie 
indeed.  Hereabouts  it  is  covered  with  the  finest 
crops,  some  already  cut  and  stacked.  Looking 
around  one  could  see  church  spires  rising  in  the 
distance  from  the  white  patches  of  houses,  and 
by  degrees  the  tracks  across  the  fertile  waste 
became  apparent,  and  then  carts  and  horses  were 
seen  toiling  through  the  rich  soil.  • 

A  large  species  of  partridge  or  grouse  appeared 
very  abundant,  and  rose  in  flocks  from  the  long 
grass  at  the  side  of  the  rail  or  from  the  rich  carpet 
of  flowers  on  the  margin  of  the  corn  fields.  They 
sat  on  the  fence  almost  unmoved  by  the  rushing 
engine,  and  literally  swarmed  along  the  line. 
These  are  called  "prairie  chickens"  by  the  people, 
and  afford  excellent  sport.  Another  bird  about 
the  size  of  a  thrush,  with  a  yellow  breast  and  a 
harsh  cry,  I  learned  was  "the  sky-lark;"  and 
apropos  of  the  unmusical  creature,  I  was  very 
briskly  attacked  by  a  young  lady  patriot  for  find 
ing  fault  with  the  sharp  noise  it  made.  "  Oh, 
my !  And  you  not  to  know  that  your  Shelley 
loved  it  above  all  things !  .  Didn't  he  write  some 
verses — quite  beautiful,  too,  they  are — to  the  sky- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


133 


lark."  And  so  "the  Britisher  was  dried  up,"  as 
I  read  in  a  paper  afterwards  of  a  similar  occur 
rence. 

At  the  little  stations  which  occur  at  every  few 
miles— there  are  some  forty  of  them,  at  each  of 
which  the  train  stops,  in  365  miles  between  Cairo 
and  Chicago — the  Union  flag  floated  in  the  air ; 
but  we  had  left  all  the  circumstance  of  this  inglo 
rious  war  behind  us,  and  the  train  rattled  boldly 
over  the  bridges  across  rare  streams,  no  longer  in 
danger  from  Secession  hatchets.  The  swamp  had 
given  place  to  the  corn  field.  No  black  faces 
were  turned  up  from  the  mowing,  and  free  white 
labour  was  at  work,  and  the  type  of  the  labourers 
was  German  and  Irish. 

The  Yorkshireman  expatiated  on  the  fertility 
of  the  land,  and  on  the  advantages  it  held  out  to 
the  emigrant.  But  I  observed  all  the  lots  by  the 
Bide  of  the  rail,  and  apparently  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach,  were  occupied.  "  Some  of  the  very 
best  land  lies  beyond  on  each  side,"  said  he. 
"  Out  over  there  in  the  fat  places  is  where  we 
put  our  Englishmen."  By  digging  deep  enough 
good  water  is  always  to  be  had,  and  coal  can  be 
carried  from  the  rail,  where  it  costs  only  7s.  or  8*. 
a  ton.  Wood  there  is  little  or  none  in  the  prai 
ries,  and  it  was  rarely  indeed  a  clump  of  trees 
could  be  detected,  or  anything  higher  than  some 
scrub  brushwood.  These  little  communities  which 
we  passed  were  but  the  growth  of  a  few  years, 
and  as  we  approached  the  Northern  portion  of 
the  line  we  could  see,  as  it  were,  the  village 
swelling  into  the  town,  and  the  town  spreading 
out  to  the  dimensions  of  the  city.  "  I  daresay, 
Major,"  says  one  of  the  passengers,  "this  gentle 
man  never  saw  anything  like  these  cities  before. 
I'm  told  they've  nothin'  like  them  in  Europe  ?" 
"  Bless  you,"  rejoined  the  Major,  with  a  wink, 
"just  leaving  out  London,  Edinbro',  Paris,  and 
Manchester,  there's  nothing  on  eartk  to  ekal 
them."  My  friend,  who  is  a  shrewd  fellow,  by 
way  of  explanation  of  his  military  title,  says,  "  I 
was  a  major  once,  a  major  in  the  Queen's  Bays, 
but  they  would  put  troop-sergeant  before  it  them 
days."  Like  many  Englishmen  he  complains  that 
the  jealousy  of  native-born  Americans  effectually 
bars  the  way  to  political  position  of  any  natural 
ised  citizen,  and  all  the  places  are  kept  by  the 
natives. 

The  scene  now  began  to  change  gradually  as 
we  approached  Chicago,  the  prairie  subsided  into 
swampy  land,  and  thick  belts  of  trees  fringed  the 
horizon ;  on  our  right  glimpses  of  the  sea  could 
be  caught  through  openings  in  the  wood — the 
ml  and  sea  on  which  stands  the  Queen  of  the 
Lakes.  Michigan  looks  broad  and  blue  as  the 
Mediterranean.  Large  farmhouses  stud  the  coun 
try,  and  houses  which  must  be  the  retreat  of  mer 
chants  and  citizens  of  means ;  and  when  the  train, 
leaving  the  land  altogether,  dashes  out  on  a  pier 
and  causeway  built  along  the  borders  of  the  lake, 
we  see  lines  of  noble  houses,  a  fine  boulevard,  a 
forest  of  masts,  huge  isolated  piles  of  masonry,  the 
famed  grain  elevators  by  which  so  many  have 
been  hoisted  to  fortune,  churches  and  public  edi 
fices,  and  the  apparatus  of  a  great  city ;  and  just 
at  nine  o'clock  the  train  gives  its  last  steam  shout 
and  comes  to  a  Standstill  in  the  spacious  station 
of  the  Central  Illinois  Company,  and  in  half-an- 
hour  more  I  am  in  comfortable  quarters  at  the 
Richmond  House,  where  I  find  letters  waiting 
for  me.  by  which  it  appears  that  the  necessity  for 


my  being  in  Washington  in  all  haste,  no  longer 


exists.  The  wary  General  who  COJJUQ 
army  is  aware  that  the  advancexfco*'Kichmond,  for. 
which  so  many  journals  are -/clamouring,  would 
be  attended  with  serious  rigk'&fc  present,  and~the 
politicians  must  be  content'to  wait  a,  little, longer 

•  •>•  M      /&  m\/%& mm*. 


CHAPTER  X] 

Progress  of  events — Policy  of  Great  Britairt6a,iuovi 
by  the  North — The  American  Press  and  its  oornmectg  ~f~ 
—Privacy  a  luxury— Chicago— Senator  Douglas  and  iiis    ' 
widow — American  ingratitude — Apathy  in  volunteer 
ing — Colonel  Turchin's  camp. 

I  SHALL  here  briefly  recapitulate  what  has  oc 
curred  since  the  last  mention  of  political  events. 

In  the  first  place  the  South  has  been  develop 
ing  every  day  greater  energy  in  widening  the 
breach  between  it  and  the  North,  and  preparing 
to  fill  it  with  dead;  and  the  North,  so  far  as  I  can 
judge,  has  been  busy  in  raising  up  the  Union  as 
a  nationality,  and  making  out  the  crime  of  treason 
from  the  act  of  Secession.  The  South  has  been 
using  conscription  in  Virginia,  and  is  entering 
upon  the  conflict  with  unsurpassable  determina 
tion.  The*  North  is  availing  itself  of  its  greater 
resources  and  its  foreign  vagabondage  and  desti 
tution  to  swell  the  ranks  of  its  volunteers,  and 
boasts  of  its  enormous  armies,  as  if  it  supposed 
conscripts  well  led  do  not  fight  better  than  volun 
teers  badly  officered.  Virginia  has  been  invaded 
on  three  points,  one  below  and  two  above  Wash 
ington,  and  passports  are  now  issued  on  both 
sides. 

The  career  open  to  the  Southern  privateers  is 
effectually  closed  by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  no 
tification  that  the  British  Government  will  not 
permit  the  cruisers  of  either  side  to  bring  their 
prizes  into  or  condemn  them  in  English  ports ; 
but,  strange  to  say,  the  Northerners  feel  indignant 
against  Great  Britain  for  an  act  which  deprives 
their  enemy  of  an  enormous  advantage,  and  which 
must  reduce  th,eir  privateering  to  the  mere  work 
of  plunder  and  destruction  on  the  high  seas.  In 
the  same  way  the  North  affects  to  consider  the 
declaration  of  neutrality,  and  the  concession  of 
limited  belligerent  rights  to  the  seceding  States, 
as  deeply  injurious  and  insulting;  whereas  our 
course  has,  in  fact,  removed  the  greatest  difficulty 
from  the  path  of  the  Washington  Cabinet,  and 
saved  us  from  inconsistencies  and  serious  risks  in 
our  course  of  action. 

It  is  commonly  said,  "What  would  Great 
Britain  have  done  if  we  had  declared  ourselves 
neutral  during  the  Canadian  rebellion,  or  had 
conceded  limited  belligerent  rights  to  the  Se 
poys?"  as  if  Canada  and  Hindostan  have  the 
same  relation  to  the  British  Crown  that  the 
seceding  States  had  to  the  Northern  States.  But 
if  Canada,  with  its  parliament,  judges,  courts  of 
law,  and  its  people,  declared  it  was  independent 
of  Great  Britain;  and  if  the  Government  of 
Great  Britain,  months  after  that  declaration  was 
made  and  acted  upon,  permitted  the  new  State 
to  go  free,  whilst  a  large  number  of  her  States 
men  agreed  that  Canada  was  perfectly  right,  we 
could  find  little  fault  with  the  United  States' 
Government  for  issuing  a  proclamation  of  neu 
trality  the  same  as  our  own,  when  after  a  long 
interval  of  quiescence  a  war  broke  out  between 
the  two  countries. 


134 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Secession  was  an  accomplished  fact  months 
before  Mr.  Lincoln  came  into  office,  but  we  heard 
no  talk  of  rebels  and  pirates  till  Sumter  had 
fallen,  and  the  North  was  perfectly  quiescent — 
not  only  that — the  people  of  wealth  in  New 
York  were  calmly  considering  the  results  of 
Secession  as  an  accomplished  fact,  and  seeking 
to  make  the  best  of  it;  nay,  more,  when  I 
arrived  in  "Washington  some  members  of  the 
Cabinet  were  perfectly  ready  to  let  the  South 
go. 

One  of  the  first  questions  put  to  me  by  Mr. 
Chase  in  my  first  interview  with  him,  was 
whether  I  thought  a  very  injurious  effect  would 
be  produced  to  the  prestige  of  the  Federal  Go 
vernment  in  Europe  if  the  Northern  States  let 
the  South  have  its  own  way,  and  told  them  to  go 
in  peace.  "For  my  own  part,"  said  he,  "I 
should  not  be  averse  to  let  them  try  it,  for  I  be 
lieve  they  would  soon  find  out  their  mistake." 
Mr.  Chase  may  be  finding  out  his  mistake  just 
now.  When  I  left  England  the  prevalent  opinion, 
as  far  as  I  could  judge,  was,  that  a  family  quarrel, 
in  which  the  South  was  in  the  wrong,  had  taken 
place,  and  that  it  would  be  better  to  stand  by 
and  let  the  Government  put  forth  its  strength  to 
chastise  rebellious  children.  But  n6V  we  see 
the  house  is  divided  against  itself,  and  that  the 
family  are  determined  to  set  up  two  separate 
establishments.  These  remarks  occur  to  me  with 
the  more  force  because  I  see  the  New  York 
papers  are  attacking  me  because  I  described  a 
calm  in  a  sea  which  was  afterwards  agitated  by 
a  storm.  "What  a  false  witness  is  this,"  they 
cry.  "See  how  angry  and  how  vexed  is  our  Ber- 
moothes,  and  yet  the  fellow  says  it  was  quite 
placid." 

I  have  already  seen  so  many  statements  re 
specting  my  sayings,  my  doings,  and  my  opinions, 
in  the  American  papers,  that  I  have  resolved  to 
follow  a  general  rule,  with  few  exceptions  in 
deed,  which  prescribes  as  the  best  course  to  pur- 
Sue,  not  so  much  an  indifference  to  these  remarks 
afe  a  fixed  purpose  to  abstain  from  the  hopeless 
task  of  correcting  them.  The  "  Quicklys"  of  the 
press  are  incorrigible.  Commerce  may  well  be 
proud  of  Chicago.  I  am  not  going  to  reiterate 
what  every  Crispinus  from  the  old  country  has 
said  again  and  again  concerning  this  wonderful 
place — not  one  word  of  statistics,  of  corn  eleva 
tors,  of  shipping,  or  of  the  piles  of  buildings 
raised  from  the  foundation  by  ingenious  applica 
tions  oi  screws.  Nor  am  I  going  to  enlarge  on 
the  splendid  future  of  that  which  has  so  much 
present  prosperity,  or  on  the  benefits  to  mankind 
opened  up  by  the  Illinois  Central  Railway.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  by  the  borders  of  this  lake 
there  has  sprung  up  in  thirty  years  a  wonderful 
city  of  fine  streets,  luxurious  hotels,  handsome 
shops,  magnificent  stores,  great  warehouses,  ex 
tensive  quays,  capacious  docks ;  and  that  as  long 
as  corn  holds  its  own,  and  the  mouths  of  Europe 
are  open,  and  her  hands  full,  Chicago  will  acquire 
greater  importance,  size,  and  wealth  with  every 
year.  The  only  drawback,  perhaps,  to  the  com 
fort  of  the  money-making  inhabitants,  and  of  the 
stranger  wittiin  the  gates,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
olouds  of  dust  and  in  the  unpaved  streets  and 
thoroughfares,  which  give  anguish  to  horse  and 
man. 

I  spent  three  days  here  writing  my  letters  and 
repairing  the  wear  and  tear  of  my  Southern  ex 


pedition  ;  and  although  it  was  hot  enough,  the 
breeze  from  the  lake  carried  health  and  vigour  to 
the  frame,  enervated  by  the  sun  of  Louisiana  and 
Mississippi.  No  need  now  to  wipe  the  large 
drops  of  moisture  from  the  languid  brow  lest 
they  blind  the  eyes,  nor  to  sit  in  a  state  of  semi- 
clotbing,  worn  out  and  exhausted,  and  tracing 
•with  moist  hand  imperfect  characters  on  the 
paper. 

I  could  not  satisfy  myself  whether  there  -»vas, 
as  I  have  been  told,  a  peculiar  state  of  feeling  in 
Chicago,  which  induced  many  people  to  support 
the  Government  of  Mr.  Lincoln  because  they 
believed  it  necessary  for  their  own  interests  to 
obtain  decided  advantages  over  the  South  in  the 
field,  whilst  they  were  opposed  toils  viribus  to  the 
genius  of  emancipation  and  to  the  views  of  the 
black  Republicans.  But  the  genius  and  elo 
quence  of  the  little  giant  have  left  their  impress 
on  the  facile  mould  of  democratic  thought,  and 
he  who  argued  with  such  acuteness  and  ability 
last  March  in  Washington,  in  his  own  study, 
against  the  possibility,  or  at  least  the  constitu 
tional  legality,  ot  using  the  national  forces,  and 
the  militia  and  volunteers  of  the  Northern  States, 
to  subjugate  the  Southern  people,  carried  away 
by  the  great  bore  which  rushed  through  the 
placid  North  when  Sumter  fell,  or  perceiving  his 
inability  to  resist  its  force,  sprung  to  the  crest  of 
the  wave,  and  carried  to  excess  the  violence  of 
the  Union  reaction. 

Whilst  I  was  in  the  South  I  had  seen  his  name 
in  Northern  papers  with  sensation  headings  and 
descriptions  of  his  magnificent  crusade  for  the 
Union  in  the  west.  I  had  heard  his  name  reviled 
by  those  who  had  once  been,  his  warm  political 
allies,  and  his  untimely  death  did  not  seem  to 
satisfy  their  hatred.  His  old  foes  in  the  North 
admired  and  applauded  the  sudden  apostasy  of 
their  eloquent  opponent,  and  were  loud  in  lamen 
tations  over  his  loss.  Imagine,  then,  how  I  felt 
when  visiting  his  grave  at  Chicago,  "seeing  his 
bust  in  many  houses,  or  his  portrait  in  all  the 
shop-windows,  I  was  told  that  the  enormously 
wealthy  community  of  which  he  was  the  idol 
were  permitting  his  widow  to  live  in  a  state  not 
far  removed  from  penury. 

"Senator  Douglas,  sir,"  observed  one  of  his 
friends  to  me,  "  died  of  bad  whisky.  He  killed 
himself  with  it  while  he  was  stumping  for  the 
Union  all  over  the  country."  "  Well,''  I  said,  "I 
suppose,  sir,  the  abstraction  called  the  Union,  for 
which  by  your  own  account  he  killed  himself,  will 
give  a  pension  to  his  widow."  Virtue  is  its  own 
reward,  and  so  is  patriotism,  unless  it  takes  the 
form  of  contracts. 

As  far  as  all  considerations  of  wife,  children,  or 
family  are  concerned,  let  a  man  serve  a  decent 
despot,  or  even  a  constitutional  country  with  an 
economising  House  of  Commons,  if  he  wants  any 
thing  more  substantial  than  lip-service.  The  his 
tory  of  the  great  men  of  America  is  full  of  in 
stances  of  national  ingratitude.  They  give  more 
praise  and  less  pence  to  their  benefactors  than  any 
nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Washington  got 
little,  though  the  plundering  scouts  who  captured 
Andre  were  well  rewarded ;  and  the  men  who 
fought  during  the  War  of  Independence  were  long 
left  in  neglect  and  poverty,  sitting  in  sack-cloth 
and  ashes  at  the  doorsteps  of  the  temple  of  liber 
ty,  whilst  the  crowd  rushed  inside  to  worship 
Plutus. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


135 


If  a  native  of  the  British  isles,  of  the  natural  ig 
norance  of  his  own  imperfections  which  should 
characterise  him,  desires  to  be  subjected  to  a  se 
ries  of  moral  shower-baths,  douches,  and  sham 
pooing  with  a  rough  glove,  let  him  come  to  the 
United  States.  In  Chicago  he  will  be  told  that 
the  English  people  are  fed  by  the  beneficence  of 
the  United  States,  and  that  all  the  trade  and  com 
merce  of  England  are  simply  directed  to  the  one 
end  of  obtaining  gold  enough  to  pay  the  western 
States  for  the  breadstuffs  exported  for  our  popu 
lation.  We  know  what  the  South  think  of  our 
dependence  on  cotton.  The  people  of  the  east 
think  they  are  striking  a  great  blow  at  their  ene 
my  by  the  Morrill  tariff,  and  I  was  told  by  a  pa 
triot  in  North  Carolina,  "  Why,  creation !  if  you 
let  the  Yankees  shut  up  our  ports,  the  whole  of 
your  darned  ships  will  go  to  rot.  Where  will  you 
get  your  naval  stores  from  ?  Why,  I  guess  in  a 
year  you  could  net  scrape  up  enough  of  tarpen- 
tine  in  the  whole  of  your  country  for  Queen  Vic 
toria  to  paint  her  nursery-door  with." 

Nearly  one  half  of  the  various  companies  en 
rolled  in  this  district  are  Germans,  or  are  the  de 
scendants  of  German  parents,  and  speak  only  the 
language  of  the  old  country ;  two-thirds  of  the 
remainder  are  Irish,  or  of  immediate  Irish  de 
scent;  but  it  is  said  that  a  grand  reserve  of 
Americans  born  lies  behind  this  avante  garde, 
who  will  come  into  the  battle  should  there  ever 
be  need  for  their  services. 

Indeed  so  long  as  the  Northern  people  furnish 
the  means  of  paying  and  equipping  armies  per 
fectly  competent  to  do  their  work,  and  equal  in 
numbers  to  any  demands  made  for  men,  they  may 
rest  satisfied  with  the  accomplishment  of  that 
duty,  and  with  contributing  from  their  ranks  the 
great  majority  of  the  superior  and  even  of  the 
subaltern  officers;  but  with  the  South  it  is  far 
different.  Their  institutions  have  repelled  immi 
gration  ;  the  black  slave  has  barred  the  door  to 
the  white'  free  settler.  Only  on  the  seaboard  and 
in  the  large  cities  are  German  and  Irish  to  be 
found,  and  they  to  a  man  have  come  forward  to 
fight  for  the  South;  but  the  proportion  they  bear 
to  the  native-born  Americans  who  have  rushed 
to  arms  in  defence  of  their  menaced  borders,  is 
of  course  far  less  than  it  is  as  yet  to  the  number 
of  Americans  in  the  Northern  States  who  have 
volunteered  to  fight  for  the  Union. 

I  was  invited  before  I  left  to  visit  the  camp  of 
a  Colonel  Turchin,  who  was  described  to  me  as  a 
Russian  officer  of  great  ability  and  experience  in 
European  warfare,  in  command  of  a  regiment  con 
sisting  of  Poles,  Hungarians,  and  Germans,  who 
were  about  to  start  for  the  seat  of  war ;  but  I 
was  only  able  to  walk  through  his  tents,  where 
I  was  astonished  at  the  amalgam  of  nations  that 
constituted  his  battalion ;  though,  on  inspection, 
I  am  bound  to  say  there  proved  to  be  an  Ameri 
can  element  in  the  ranks  which  did  not  appear 
to  have  coalesced  with  the  bulk  of  the  rude  and, 
I  fear,  predatory  Cossacks  of  the  Union.  Many 
young  men  of  good  position  have  gone  to  the 
wars,  although  there  was  no  complaint,  as  in 
Southern  cities,  that  merchants'  offices  have  been 
deserted,  and  great  establishments  left  destitute 
of  clerks  and  working  hands  In  warlike  opera 
tions,  however,  Chicago,  with  its  communication 
open  to  the  sea,  its,  access  to  the  head  waters  of 
the  Mississippi,  its  intercourse  with  the  marts  of 
commerce  and  of  manufacture,  may  be  considered 


to  possess  greater  belligerent  power  and  strength 
than  the  great  city  of  New  Orleans;  and  there  is 
much  greater  probability  of  Chicago  sending  its 
contingent  to  attack  the  Crescent  City  than  there 
is  of  the  latter  being  able  to  despatch  a  soldier 
within  five  hundred  miles  of  its  streets. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Niagara— Impression  of  the  Falls— Battle  scenes  in  the 
neighbourhood — A  village  of  Indians — General  Scott — 
Hostile  movements  on  both  sides — The  Hudson — Mili 
tary  school  at  West  Point— Return  to  New  York— Al 
tered  appearance  of  the  city — Misery  and  suffering- 
Altered  state  of  public  opinion,  as  to  the  Union  and  to 
wards  Great  Britain. 

AT  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  27th  I 
left  Chicago  for  Niagara,  which  was  so  temptingly 
near  that  I  resolved  to  make  a  detour  by  that 
route  to  New  York.  The  line  from  the  city  which 
I  took  skirts  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Mi 
chigan  for  many  miles,  and  leaving  its  borders  at 
New  Buffalo,  traverses  the  southern  portion  of 
the  state  of  Michigan  by  Albion  and  Jackson  to 
the  town  of  Detroit,  or  the  outflow  of  Lake  St. 
Clair  into  Lake  Erie,  a  distance  of  284  miles, 
which  was  accomplished  in  about  twelve  hours. 
The  most  enthusiastic  patriot  could  not  affirm  the 
country  was  interesting.  The  names  of  the  sta 
tions  were  certainly  novel  to  a  Britisher.  Thus 
we  had  Kalumet,  Pokagon,  Dowagiac,  Kalama- 
zoo,  Ypsilauti,  among  the  more  familiar  titles  of 
Chelsea,  Mare,ngo,  Albion,  and  Parma. 

It  was  dusk  when  we  reached  the  steam  ferry 
boat  at  Detroit,  which  took  us  across  to  Windsor; 
but  through  the  dusk  I  could  perceive  the  Union 
Jack  waving  above  the  unimpressive  little  town 
which  bears  a  name  so  respected  by  British  ears. 
The  customs'  inspections  seemed  very  mild  ;  and 
I  was  not  much  impressed  by  the  representative 
of  the  British  crown,  who,  with  a  brass  button  on 
his  coat  and  a  very  husky  voice,  exercised  his 
powers  on  behalf  of  Her  Majesty  at  the  landing- 
place  of  Windsor.  The  officers  of  the  railway 
company,  who  received  me  as  if  I  had  been  an 
old  friend,  welcomed  me  as  if  I  had  just  got 
out  of  a  battle-field.  "  Well,  I  do  wonder  them 
Yankees  have  ever  let  you  come  out  alive." 
"  May  I  ask  why  ?"  "  Oh,  because  you  have  not 
been  praising  them  all  round,  sir.  Why  even  the 
Northern  chaps  get  angry  with  a  Britisher,  as 
they  call  us,  if  he  attempts  to  say  a  word  against 
those  cursed  niggers." 

It  did  not  appear  the  Americans  are  quite  so 
thin-skinned,  for  whilst  crossing  in  the  steamer  a 
passage  of  arms  between  the  Captain,  who  was  a 
genuine  John  Bull,  and  a  Michigander,  in  the 
style  which  is  called  chaff  or  slang,  diverted 
most  of  the  auditors,  although  it  was  very  much 
to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Union  champion.  The 
Michigan  man  had  threatened  the  Captain  that 
Canada  would  be  annexed  as  the  consequence  of 
our  infamous  conduct.  "Why,  I  tell  you,"  said 
the  Captain,  "  we'd  just  draw  up  the  negro  chaps 
*from  our  barbers'  shops,  and  tell  them  we'd  send 
them  to  Illinois  if  they  did  not  lick  you ;  and  I 
believe  every  creature  in  Michigan,  pigs  and  all, 
would  run  before  them  into  Pennsylvania.  We 
know  what  you  are  up  to,  you  and  them  Maine 
chaps ;  but  Lor'  bless  you,  sooner  than  take  such 
a  lot,  we'd  give  you  ten  dollars  a  head  to  make 
you  stay  in  your  own  country ;  and  we  know 


136 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


you  would  go  to  the  next  worst  place  before  Niagara,  and  was  perturbed  concerning  a  break- 

your  time  for  half  the  money.     The  very  Blue-  fastless  ramble  and  a  hunt  after  lodgings  by  the 

noses  would  secede  if  you  were  permitted  to  borders  of  the  great  river. 

come  under  the  old  flag."  But  although  Clifton  Hotel  was  full  enougli, 

All  night  we  travelled.     A  long  day  through  there  was  room  for  us,  too ;  and  for  two  days  a 


a   dreary,    ill-settled,    pine-wooded,    half-cleared 
conntry,   swarming  with  mosquitoes  and  biting 


strange,  weird-kind  of  life  I  led,  alternating  be 
tween  the  roar  of  the  cataract  outside  an  i  the 


flies,  and  famous  for  fevers.    Just  about  daybreak    din  of  politics  within ;  for,  be  it  known,  that  at 


the  train  stopped. 

"Now,  then,"  said  an  English  voice; 
then,  who's  for  Clifton  Hotel?     All 


the  Canadian  side  of  the  Falls  many  Americans 
now,    of  the  Southern  States,  who  would  not  pollute 
their  footsteps  by  contact  with  the  soil  of  Yan- 


leave  cars  for  this  side  of  the  Falls."     Consigning  kee-land,  were  sojourning,  and  that   merchants 

our  baggage  to  the  commissioner  of  the  Clifton,  and  bankers  of  New  York  and  other  Northern 

my  companion,  Mr.  Ward,  and  n^self  resolved  to  cities  had   selected  it  as  their  summer  retreat, 

walk  along  the  banks  of  the  river  to  the  hotel,  and,  indeed,  with  reason;  for  after  excursions  on 

which  is  some  two  miles  and  a  half  distant,  and  both  sides  of  the  Falls,  the  comparative  seclusion 

set  out  whilst  it  was  still  so  obscure  that  the  of  the  settlements  on  the  left  bank  appears  to  me 

outline  of  the  beautiful  bridge  which  springs  so  to  render  it  infinitely  preferable  to  the  Rosher- 

lightly  across  the  chasm,  filled  with  furious  hur-  ville  gentism  and  semi-rowdyism   of  the   large 

rying  waters,  hundreds  of  feet  below,  was  visible  American  hotels  and  settlements  on  the  other 

only  as  is  the  tracery  of  some  cathedral  arch  side. 

through  the  dim  light  of  the  cloister.  It  was  distressing  to  find  that  Niagara  was 
The  road  follows  the  caurse  of  the  stream,  surrounded  by  the  paraphernalia  of  a  fixed  fair, 
which  whirls  and  gurgles  in  an  Alpine  torrent,  I  had  looked  forward  to  a  certain  degree  of  soli- 
many  times  magnified,  in  a  deep  gorge  like  that  tude.  It  appeared  impossible  that  man  could 
of  the  Tete  Noire.  As  the  rude  bellow  of  the  cockneyfy  such  a  magnificent  display  of  force 
steam-engine  and  the  rattle  of  the  train  proceed-  and  grandeur  in  nature.  But,  alas !  it  is  haunted 
ing  on  its  journey  were  dying  away,  the  echoes  by  what  poor  Albert  Smith  used  to  denominate 


seemed  to  swell  into  a  sustained,  reverberating, 
hollow  sound  from  the  perpendicular  banks  of 
the  St.  Lawrence.  We  listened.  "It  is  the 
noise  of  the  Falls,"  said  my  companion;  and  as 
we  walked  on  the  sound  became  louder,  filling 


"  harpies."  The  hateful  race  of  guides  infest  the 
precincts  of  the  hotels,  waylay  you  in  the  lanes, 
and  prowl  about  the  unguarded  moments  of  re 
verie.  There  are  miserable  little  peepshows  and 
photographers,  bird  stuffers,  shell  polishers,  col- 


the  air  with  a  strange  quavering  note,    which    lectors   of  crystals,    and   proprietors  of  natural 


played  about  a  tremendous  uniform  bass  note, 
and  silencing  every  other.  Trees  closed  in  the 
road  on  the  river  side,  but  when  we  had  walked 


curiosity  shops. 

There  is,  besides,  a  large  village  populates 
There  is  a  watering-side  air   about   the  people 


a  mile  or  so,  the  lovely  light  of  morning  spread-    who  walk  along  the  road  worse  than  all  their 


ing  with  our  steps,  suddenly  through  an  opening 
in  the  branches  there  appeared,  closing  up  the 
vista — white,  flickering,  indistinct,  and  shroud- 
like — the  Falls,  rushing  into  a  grave  of  black 
waters,  and  uttering  that  tremendous  cry  which 
can  never  be  forgotten. 

I  have  heard  many  people  say  they  were  dis 
appointed  with  the  first  impression  of  Niagara. 
Let  those  who  desire  to  see  the  water-leap  in  all 
its  grandeur,  approach  it  as  I  did,  and  I  cannot 


mills  and  factories  working  their  water  privileges 
at  both  sides  of  the  stream.  At  the  American 
side  there  is  a  lanky,  pretentious  town,  with  big 
hotels,  shops  of  Indian  curiosities,  and  all  the 
meagre  forms  of  the  bazaar  life  reduced  to  a 
minimum  of  attractiveness  which  destroy  the 
comfort  of  a  traveller  in  Switzerlaud.  I  had 
scarcely  been  an  hour  in  the  hotel  before  I  was 
asked  to  look  at  the  Falls  through  a  little  piece 
of  coloured  glass.  Next  I  was  solicited  to  pur- 


conceive  what  their  expectations  are  if  they  do    chase  a  collection  of  muddy  photographs,  repre- 
not  confess  the  sight  exceeded  tlieir  highest  ideal,    senting   what   I   could    look    at   with  my  own 
I  do  not  pretend  to  describe  the  sensations  or  to    eyes  for  nothing.     Not  finally  by  any  means,  I 
endeavour  to  give  the  effect  produced  on  me  by 
the  scene  or  by  the  Falls,  then  or  subsequently  ; 
but  I  must  say  words  can  do  no  more  than  con 
fuse  the  writer's  own  ideas  of  the  grandeur  of 
the  sight,  and  mislead  altogether  those  who  read 
them.     It  is  of  no  avail  to  do  laborious  statistics, 


was  assailed  by  a  gentleman  who  was  particu 
larly  desirous  of  selling  me  an  enormous  pair 
of  cow's-horns  and  a  stuffed  hawk.  Small 
booths  and  peepshows  corrupt  the  very  margin 
of  the  bank,  and  close  by  the  remnant  of  the 
"Table  Rock,"  a  Jew  (who,  by-the-bye,  de- 


and  tell  us  how  many  gallons  rush  over  in  that  serves  infinite  credit  for  the  zeal  and  energy  he 
down-flung  ocean  every  second,  or  how  wide  it  has  thrown  into  the  collections  for  his  museum), 
is,  how  high  it  is,  how  deep  the  earth-piercing  exhibits  bottled  rattle-snakes,  stuffed  monkeys, 


caverns  beneath.  For  my  own  part,  I  always 
feel  the  distance  of  the  sun  to  be  insignificant, 
when  I  read  it  is  so  many  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  miles  away,  compared  with  the  feeling  of  utter 


Egyptian  mummies,  series  of  coins,  with  a  small 
living  menagerie  attached  to  the  shop,  in  which 
articles  of  Indian  manufacture  are  exposed  for 
sale.  It  was  too  bad  to  be  asked  to  admire 


inaccessibility  to  anything  human  which  is  caus-*such  lusus  naturce  as  double-headed  calves  and 


ed  by  it  when  its  setting  rays  illuminate  some 
purple  ocean  studded  with  golden  islands  in 
dreamland. 

Niagara  is  rolling  its  waters  over  the  barrier. 
Larger  and  louder  it  grows  upon  us. 

"I  hope  the  hotel  is  not  full,"  quoth  my 
friend.  I  confess,  for  the  time,  I  forgot  all  about 


dogs  with  three  necks  by  the  banks  of  Niagara. 

As  I  said  before,  I  am  not  going  to  essay  the 
impossible  or  to  describe  the  Falls.  On  the 
English  side  there  are,  independently  of  other 
attractions,  some  scenes  of  recent  historic  interest, 
for  close  to  Niagara  are  Lundy's  Lane  and  Chip- 
pewa.  There  are  few  persons  in  England  aware 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


137 


of  the  exceedingly  severe  fighting  which  charac 
terised  the  contests  between  the  Americans  and 
the  English  and  Canadian  troops  during  the  cam 
paign  of  1814.  At  Chippewa,  for  example, 
Major-General  Riall,  who,  with  2000  men,  one 
howitzer,  and  two  24-pounders,  attacked  a  force 
f  Americans  of  a  similar  strength,  was  repulsed 
with  a  loss  of  500  killed  and  wounded ;  and  on 
he  morning  of  the  25th  of  July  the  action  of 
Lundjr's  Lane,  between  four  brigades  of  Ameri 
cans  and  seven  field-pieces,  and  3100  men  of  the 
British  and  seven  field-pieces,  took  place  in  which 
the  Americans  were  worsted,  and  retired  with  a 
loss  of  854  men  and  two  guns,  whilst  the  British 
lost  878.  On  the  14th  of  August  following  Sir 
Gordon  Drummond  was  repulsed  with  a  loss  of 
9 05  men  out  of  his  small  force  in  an  attack  on 
Fort  Erie ;  and  on  the  17th  of  September  an 
American  sortie  from  the  place  was  defeated  with 
a  loss  of  510  killed  and  wounded,  the  British 
having  lost  609.  In  effect  the  American  cam 
paign  was  unsuccessful :  but  their  failures  were 
redeemed  by  their  successes  on  Lake  Champlain, 
and  in  the  affair  of  Pittsburgh. 

There  Was  more  hard  fighting  than  strategy  in 
•  these  battles,  and  their  results  were  not,  on  the 
whole,  creditable  to  the  military  skill  of  either 
party.  They  were  sanguinary  in  proportion  to 
the  Timber  of  troops  engaged,  but  they  were 
very  petty  skirmishes  considered  in  the  light  of 
contests  between  two  great  nations  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  specific  results.  As  Eng 
land  was  engaged  in  a  great  war  in  Europe,  was 
far  removed  from  the  scene  of  operations,  was 
destitute  of  steampower,  whilst  America  was 
fighting,  as  it  were,  on  her  own  soil,  close  at 
hand,  with  a  full  opportunity  of  putting  forth  all 
her  strength,  the  complete  defeat  of  the  Ameri 
can  invasion  of  Canada  was  more  honourable  to 
our  arms  than  the  successes  which  the  Americans 
achieved  in  resisting  aggressive  demonstrations. 

In  the  great  hotel  of  Clifton  we  had  every  day 

a  little  war  of  our  own,  for  there  were but 

why  should  I  mention  names  ?  Has  not  govern 
ment  its  bastiles?  There  were  in  effect  men, 
and  women  too,  who  regarded  the  people  of  the 
Northern  States  and  the  government  they  had 
selected  very  much  as  the  men  of  '98  looked  up 
on  the  government  and  people  of  England ;  but 
withal  these  strong  Southerners  were  not  very 
favourable  to  a  country  which  they  regarded  as 
the  natural  ally  of  the  abolitionists,  simply  because 
it  had  resolved  to  be  neutral. 

On  the  Canadian  side  these  rebels  were  secure. 
British  authority  was  embodied  in  a  respectable 
old  Scottish  gentleman,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
prevent  smuggling  across  the  boiling  waters  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  who  performed  it  with 
zeal  and  diligence  worthy  of  a  higher  post. 
There  was  indeed  a  withered  triumphal  arch 
which  stood  over  the  spot  where  the  young 
Prince  of  our  royal  house  had  passed  on  his  way 
to  the  Table  Rock,  but  beyond  these  signs  and 
tokens  there  was  nothing  to  distinguish  the  Ame 
rican  from  the  British  side,  except  the  greater 
size  and  activity  of  the  settlements  upon  the 
right  bank.  There  is  no  power  in  nature,  accord 
ing  to  great  engineers,  which  cannot  be  forced  to 
succumb  to  the  influence  of  money.  The  Ame 
rican  papers  actually  announce  that  "  Niagara  is 
to  be  sold;"  the  proprietors  of  the  land  upon 
their  side  of  the  water  have  resolved  to  sell  their 


water  privileges !  A  capitalist  could  render  the 
islands  the  most  beautifully  attractive  places  in 
the  world. 

Life  at  Niagara  is  like  that  at  most  watering- 
places,  though  it  is  a  desecration  to  apply  such  a 
term  to  the  Falls,  and  there  is  no  bathing  there, 
except  that  which  is  confined  to  the  precincts  of 
the  hotels  and  to  the  ingenious  establishment  on 
the  American  side,  which  permits  one  to  enjoy 
the  full  rush  of  the  current  in  covered  rooms  with 
sides  pierced,  to  let  it  come  through  with  undi- 
minished  force  and  with  perfect  security  to  the 
bather.  There  are  drives  and  picnics,  and  mild 
excursion's  to  obscure  places  in  the  neighbour 
hood,  where  only  the  roar  of  the  Falls  gives  an 
idea  of  their  presence.  The  rambles  about  the 
islands,  and  the  views  of  the  boiling  rapids  above 
them,  are  delightful,  but  I  am  glad  to  hear  from 
one  of  the  guides  that  the  great  excitement  of 
seeing  a  man  and  boat  carried  over  occurs  but 
rarely.  Every  year,  however,  hapless  creatures 
crossing  from  one  shore  to  the  other,  by  some 
error  of  judgment  or*  miscalculation  of  strength, 
or  malign  influence,  are  swept  away  into  the 
rapids,  and  then,  notwithstanding  the  wonderful 
rescues  effected  by  the  American  blacksmith  and 
unwonted  kindnesses  of  fortune,  there  is  little 
chance  of  saving  body  corporate  or  incorporate 
from  the  headlong  swoop  to  destruction. 

Next  to  the  purveyors  of  curiosities  and  hotel 
keepers,  the  Indians,  who  live  in  a  village  at 
some  distance  from  Niagara,  reap  the  largest 
profit  from  the  crowds  of  visitors  who  repair 
annually  to  the  Falls.  They  are  a  harmless  and 
by  no  means  elevated  race  of  semi-civilised 
savages,  whose  energies  are  expended  on  whis 
key,  feather  fans,  bark  canoes,  ornamental  mocas* 
sins,  and  carved  pipe  stems.  I  had  arranged  for 
an  excursion  to  see  them  in  their  wigwams  one 
morning,  when  the  news  was  brought  to  me  that 
General  Scott  had  ordered,  or  been  forced  to 
order,  the  advance  of  the  Federal  troops  encamped 
in  front  of  Washington,  under  the  command  of 
McDowell,  against  the  Confederates,  commanded 
by  Beauregard,  who  was  described  as  occupying 
a  mos  tformidable  position,  covered  with  entrench 
ments  and  batteries  in  front  of  a  ridge  of  hills, 
through  which  the  railway  passes  to  Richmond. 

The  New  York  papers  represent  the  Federal 
army  to  be  of  some  grand  indefinite  strength,  va 
rying  from  60,000  to  120,000  men,  full  of  fight, 
admirably  equipped,  well  disciplined,  and  pro 
vided  with  an  overwhelming  force  of  artillery 
General  Scott,  I  am  very  well  assured,  did  not 
feel  such  confidence  in  the  result  of  an  invasion 
of  Virginia,  that  he  would  hurry  raw  levies  and  a 
rabble  of  regiments  to  undertake  a  most  arduous 
military  operation. 

The  day  I  was  introduced  to  the  General  he 
was  seated  at  a  table  in  the  unpretending  room 
which  served  as  his  boudoir  in  the  still  humbler 
house  where  he  held  his  head-quarters.  On  the 
table  before  him  were  some  plans  and  maps  of 
the  harbour  defences  "of  the  Southern  ports.  I 
inferred  he  was  about  to  organise  a  force  for  the 
occupation  of  positions  along  the  coast.  But 
when  I  mentioned  my  impression  to  one  of  his 
officers,  he  said,  "  On,  no,  the  General  advised 
that  long  ago ;  but  he  is  now  convinced  we  are 
too  late.  All  he  can  hope,  now,  is  to  be  allowed 
time  to  prepare  a  force  for  the  field,  but  there  are 
hopes  that  some  compromise  will  yet  take  place." 


138 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


The  probabilities  of  this  compromise  have  va 
nished:  few  entertain  them  now.  They  have 
been  hanging  Secessionists  in '  Illinois,  and  the 
courthouse  itself  has  been  made  the  scene  of 
Lynch  law  murder  in  Ogle  county.  Petitions, 
prepared  by  citizens  of  New  York  to  the  Presi 
dent,  for  a  general  convention  to  consider  a  com 
promise,  have  been  seized.  The  Confederates 
have  raised  batteries  along  the  Virginia  shore  of 
the  Potomac.  General  Banks,  at  Baltimore,  has 
deposed  the  police  authorities  "proprio  motu"  in 
spite  of  the  protest  of  the  board.  Engagements 
have  occurred  between  the  Federal  steamers  and 
the  Confederate  batteries  on  the  Potomac.  On 
all  points,  wherever  the  Federal  pickets  have  ad 
vanced  in  Virginia,  they  have  encountered  oppo 
sition  and  have  been  obliged  to  halt  or  to  retire. 

****** 

As  I  stood  on  the  verandah  this  morning, 
looking  for  the  last  time  on  the  Falls,  which  were 
covered  with  a  grey  mist,  that  rose  from  the 
river  and  towered  unto  the  sky  in  columns  which 
were  lost  in  the  clouds,  a  voice  beside  me  said, 
"Mr.  Russell,  that  is  something  like  the  present 
condition  of  our  country,  mists  and  darkness  ob 
scure  it  now,  but  we  know  the  great  waters  are 
rushing  behind,  and  will  flow  till  eternity."  The 
speaker  was  an  earnest,  thoughtful  man,  but  the 
country  of  which  he  spoke  was  the  land  of  the 
South.  "  And  do  you  think,"  said  I,  "  when  the 
mists  clear  away  the  Falls  will  be  as  full  and  as 
grand  as  before?"  "Well,"  he  replied,  "they 
are  great  as  it  is,  though  a  rock  divides  them ; 
we  have  merely  thrown  our  rock  into  the  waters, 
— they  will  meet  all  the  same  in  the  pool  below." 
A  coloured  boy,  who  has  waited  on  me  at  the 
hotel,  hearing  I  was  going  away,  entreated  me  to 
take  him  on  any  terms,  which  were,  I  found,  an 
advance  of  nine  dollars,  and  twenty  dollars  a 
month,  and,  as  I  heard  a  good  account  of  him 
from  the  landlord,  I  installed  the  young  man  into 
my  service.  In  the  evening  I  left  Niagara  on 
my  way  to  New  York. 

July  2nd. — At  early  dawn  this  morning,  looking 
out  of  the  sleeping  car,  I  saw  through  the  mist  a 
broad,  placid  river  on  the  right,  and  on  the  left 
high  wooded  banks  running  sharply  into  the 
stream,  against  the  base  of  which  the  rails  were 
laid.  West  Point,  which  is  celebrated  for  its 
picturesque  scenery,  as  much  as  for  its  military 
school,  could  not  be  seen  through  the  fog,  and  I 
regretted  time  did  not  allow  me  to  stop  and  pay 
a  visit  to  the  academy.  I  was  obliged  to  content 
myself  with  the  handiwork  of  some  of  the  ex- 
pupils.  The  only  camaraderie  I  have  witnessed 
in  America  exists  among  the  West  Point  men. 
It  is  to  Americans  what  our  great  public  schools 
are  to  young  Englishmen.  To  take  a  high  place 
at  West  Point  is  to  be  a  first-class  man,  or 
wrangler.  The  academy  turns  out  a  kind  of  mi 
litary  aristocracy,  and  I  have  heard  complaints 
that  the  Irish  and  Germans  are  almost  com 
pletely  excluded,  because  the  nominations  to 
West  Point  are  obtained  'by  political  influence ; 
and  the  foreign  element,  though  powerful  at  the 
ballot  box,  has  no  enduring  strength.  The  Mur 
phies  and  Schmidts  seldom  succeed  in  shoving 
their  sons  into  the  American  institution.  North 
and  South,  I  have  observed,  the  old  pupils  refer 
everything  military  to  West  Point.  "  I  was  with 
Beauregard  at  West  Point.  He  was  three  above 
me."  Or,  "  M'Dowell  and  I  were  in  the  same 


class."  An  officer  is  measured  by  what  he  did 
there,  and  if  professional  jealousies  date  from  the 
state  of  common  pupilage,  so  do  lasting  friend 
ships.  I  heard  Beauregard,  Lawton,  Hardee, 
Bragg,  and  others,  speak  of  M'Dowell,  Lyon, 
M'Clellan,  and  other  men  of  the  academy,  as 
their  names  turned  up  in  the  Northern  papers, 
evidently  judging  of  them  by  the  old  school 
standard.  The  number  of  men  who  have  been 
educated  there  greatly  exceeds  the  modest  re 
quirements  of  the  army.  But  there  is  likelihood 
of  their  being  all  in  full  work  very  soon. 

At  about  nine  a.m.,  the  train  reached  New 
York,  and  in  driving  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Duncan, 
who  accompanied  me  from  Niagara,  the  first 
thing  which  struck  me  was  the  changed  aspect 
of  the  streets.  Instead  of  peaceful  citizens,  men 
in  military  uniforms  thronged  the  pathways,  and 
such  multitudes  of  United  States'  flags  floated 
from  the  windows  and  roofs  of  the  houses  as  to 
convey  the  impression  that  it  was  a  great  holiday 
festival.  The  appearance  of  New  York  when  I 
first  saw  it  was  very  different.  For  one  day,  in 
deed,  after  my  arrival,  there  were  men  in  uniform 
to  be  seen  in  the  streets,  'but  they  disappeared 
after  St.  Patrick  had  been  duly  honoured,  and  it 
was  very  rarely  I  ever  saw  a  man  in  soldier's 
clothes  during  the  rest  of  my  stay.  Now,  fully  a 
third  of  the  people  carried  arms,  and  were  dressed 
in  some  kind  of  martial  garb. 

The  walls  are  covered  with  placards  from  mi 
litary  companies  offering  inducements  to  recruits. 
An  outburst  of  military  tailors  has  taken  place  in 
the  streets ;  shops  are  devoted  to  militia  equip 
ments  ;  rifles,  pistols,  swords,  plumes,  long  boots, 
saddle,  bridle,  camp  beds,  canteens,  tents,  knap 
sacks,  have  usurped  the  place  of  the  ordinary 
articles  of  traffic.  Pictures  and  engravings — bad, 
and  very  bad — of  the  "  battles"  of  Big  Bethel  and 
Vienna,  full  of  furious  charges,  smoke  and  dis 
membered  bodies,  have  driven  the  French  prints 
out  of  the  windows.  Innumerable  "  General 
Scotts"  glower  at  you  from  every  turn,  making 
the  General  look  wiser  than  he  or  any  man  ever 
was.  Ellsworths  in  almost  equal  proportion, 
Grebles  and  Winthrops — the  Union  martyrs — and 
Tompkins,  the  temporary  hero  of  Fairfax  court 
house. 

The  "  flag  of  our  country  "  is  represented  in  a 
coloured  engraving,  the  original  of  which  was  not 
destitute  of  poetical  feeling,  as  an  angry  blue  sky 
through  which  meteors  fly  streaked  by  the  winds, 
whilst  between  the  red  stripes  the  stars  just  shine 
out  from  the  heavens,  the  flag-staff  being  typified 
by  a  forest  tree  bending  to  the  force  of  the  blast. 
The  Americans  like  this  idea — to  my  mind  it  is 
significant  of  bloodshed  and  disaster.  And  why 
not !  What  would  become  of  ah1  these  pseudo- 
Zouaves  who  have  come  out  like  an  eruption 
over  the  States,  and  are  in  no  respect,  not  even 
in  their  baggy  breeche's,  like  their  great  originals, 
if  this  war  were  not  to  go  on  ?  I  thought  I  had 
had  enough  of  Zouaves  in  New  Orleans,  but  dis 
aliier  visum. 

They  are  overrunning  society,  and  the  streets 
here,  and  the  dress  which  becomes  the  broad- 
chested,  stumpy,  short-legged  Celt,  who  seems 
specially  intended  for  it,  is  singularly  unbecom 
ing  to  the  tall  and  slightly-built  American. 
Songs  "  On  to  glory,"  "  Our  country,"  new  ver 
sions  of  "  Hail,  Columbia,"  which  certainly  can 
not  be  considered  by  even  American  complacency 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


139 


X 


a  "  happy  land  "  when  its  inhabitants  are  prepar 
ing  to  cut  each  other's  throats,  of  the  "star- 
spangled  banner,"  are  displayed  in  booksellers' 
and  music-shop  windows,  and  patriotic  sentences 
emblazoned  on  flags  float  from  many  houses.  The 
ridiculous  habit  of  dressing  up  children  and 
young  people  up  to  ten  and  twelve  years  of  age 
as  Zouaves  and  vivandieres  has  been  caught  up 
by  the  old  people,  and  Mars  would  die  with 
laughter  if  he  saw  some  of  the  abdominous,  be 
spectacled  light  infantry  men  who  are  hobbling 
along  the  pavement. 

There  has  been  indeed  a  change  in  New  York : 
externally  it  is  most  remarkable,  but  I  cannot  at 
all  admit  that  the  abuse  with  which  I  was  assailed 
for  describing  the  indifference  which  prevailed  on 
my  arrival  was  in  the  least  degree  justified.  I 
was  desirous  of  learning  how  far  the  tone  of  con 
versation  "  in  the  city"  had  altered,  and  soon 
after  breakfast  I  went  down  Broadway  to  Pine 
Street  arid  Wall  Street.  The  street  in  all  its 
length  was  almost  draped  with  flags  —  the 
warlike  character  of  the  shops  was  intensified. 
In  front  of  one  shop  window  there  was  a  large 
crowd  gazing  with  interest  at  some  object  which 
I  at  last  succeeded  in  feasting  my  eyes  upon.  A 
grey  cap  with  a  tinsel  badge  in  front,  and  the 
cloth  stained  with  blood,  was  displayed,  with  the 
words,  "Gap  of  Secession  officer  killed  in  action." 
On  my  way  I  observed  another  crowd  of  women, 
some  with  children  in  their  arms,  standing  in 
front  of  a  large  house  and  gazing  up  earnestly  and 
angrily  at  the  windows.  I  found  they  were 
wives,  mothers,  and  sisters,  and  daughters  of 
.volunteers  who  had  gone  off  and  left  them  des 
titute. 

The  misery  thus  caused  has  been  so  great  that 
the  citizens  of  New  York  have  raised  a  fund  to 
provide  food,  clothes,  and  a  little  money — a  poor 
relief,  in  fact,  for  them,  and  it  was  plain  that  they 
were  much  needed,  though  some  of  the  applicants 
did  not  seem  to  belong  to  a  class  accustomed  to 
seek  aid  from  the  public.  This  already !  But  Wall 
Street  and  Pine  Street  are  bent 'on  battle.  And 
so  this  day,  hot  from  the  South  and  impressed 
with  the  firm  resolve  of  the  people,  and  finding 
that  the  North  has  been  lashing- itself  into  fury,  I 
sit  down  and  write  to  England,  on  my  return 
to  the  city.  "  At  present  dismiss  entirely  the 
idea,  no  matter  how  it  may  originate,  that  there 
will  be,  or  can  be,  peace,  compromise,  union,  or 
secession,  till  war  has  determined  the  issue." 

As  long  as  there  was  a  chance  that  the  strug 
gle  might  not  take  place,  the  merchants  of  New 
York  were  silent,  fearful  of  offending  their  South 
ern  friends  and  connections,  but  inflicting  infinite 
damage  on  their  own  government  and  misleading 
both  sides.  Their  sentiments,  sympathies,  and 
business  bound  them  with  the  South;  and,  in 
deed,  till  "  the  glorious  uprising,"  the  South  be 
lieved'  New  York  was  with  them,  as  might  be 
credited  from  the  tone  of  some  organs  in  the 
press,  and  I  remember  hearing  it  said  by  South 
erners  in  Washington,  that  it  was  very  likely 
New  York  would  go  out  of  the  Union  1  When 
the  merchants,  however,  saw  that  the  South  was 
determined  to  quit  the  -Union,  they  resolved  to 
avert  the  permanent  loss  of  the  great  profits  de 
rived  from  their  connection  with  the  South  by 
some  present  sacrifices.  They  rushed  to  the 
platforms — the  battle-cry  was  sounded  from 
almost  every  pulpit — flag  raisings  took  place  in 


every  square,  like  the  planting  of  the  tree  of 
liberty  in  France  in  1848,  and  the  oath  was  taken 
to  trample  Secession  under  foot,  and  to  quench 
the  fire  of  the  Southern  heart  for  ever. 

The  change  in  manner,  in  tone,  in  argument, 
is  most  remarkable.  I  met  men  to-day  who  last 
March  argued  coolly  and  philosophically  about 
the  right  of  Secession.  They  are  now  furious 
at  the  idea  of  such  wickedness — furious  with 
England,  because  she  does  not  deny  their  own 
famous  doctrine  of  the  sacred  right  of  insurrec 
tion.  "  We  must  maintain  our  glorious  Union, 
sir."  "  We  must  have  a  country."  "  We  can 
not  allow  two  nations  to  grow  up  on  this  Conti 
nent,  sir."  "  We  must  possess  the  entire  control 
of  the  Mississippi."  These  "musts,"  and  "can'ts," 
and  "won'ts,"  are  the  angry  utterances  of  a  spi 
rited  people  who  have  had  their  will  so  long  that 
they  at  last  believe  it  is  omnipotent.  Assuredly, 
they  will  not  have  it  over  the  South  without  a 
tremendous  and  long-sustained  contest,  in  which 
they  must  put  forth  every  exertion,  and  use  all 
the  resources  and  superior  means  they  so  abun 
dantly  possess. 

It  is  absurd  to  assert,  as  do  the  New  York 
people,  to  give  some  semblance  of  reason  to  their 
sudden  outburst,  that  it  was  caused  by  the  insult 
to  the  flag  at  Sumter.  Why,  the  flag  had  been 
fired  on  long  before  Sumter  was  attacked  by  the 
Charleston  batteries!  It  had  been  torn  down 
from  United  States'  arsenals  and  forts  all  over  the 
South  ;  and  but  for  the  accident  which  placed 
Major  Anderson  in  a  position  from  which  he 
could  not  retire,  there  would  have  been  no  bom 
bardment  of  the  fort,  and  it  would,  when  evacu 
ated,  have  shared  the  fate  of  all  the  other  Federal 
works  on  the  Southern  coast.  Some  of  the  gen 
tlemen  who  are  now  so  patriotic  and  Unionistic, 
were  last  March  prepared  to  maintain  that  if  the 
President  attempted  to  reinforce  Sumter  or 
Pickens,  he  would  be  responsible  for  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  Union.  Many  journals  in  New  York 
and  out  of  it  held  the  same  doctrine. 

One  word  to  these  gentlemen.  I  am  pretty 
well  satisfied  that  if  they  had  always  spoken, 
wrritten,  and  acted  as  they  do  now,  the  people  of 
Charleston  would  not  have  attacked  Sumter  so 
readily.  The  abrupt  outburst  at  the  North  and 
the  demonstration  at  New  York  filled  the  South, 
first  with  astonishment,  and  then  with  something 
like  fear,  which  was  rapidly  fanned  into  anger  by 
the  press  and  the  politicians,  as  well  as  by  the 
pride  inherent  in  slaveholders. 

I  wonder  what  Mr.  Seward  will  say  when  I 
get  back  to  Washington.  Before  I  left,  he  was 
of  opinion— at  all  events,  he  stated — that  all  the 
States  would  come  back,  at  the  rate  of  one  a 
month.  The  nature  of  the  process  was  not  stated; 
but  we  are  told  there  are  250,000  Federal  troops 
now  under  arms,  prepared  to  try  a  new  one. 

Combined  with  the  feeling  of  animosity  to  the 
rebels,  there  is,  I  perceive,  a  good  deal  of  ill-feel 
ing  towards  Great  Britain.  The  Southern  papers 
are  so  angry  with  us  for  the  Order  in  Council 
closing  British  ports  against  privateers  and  their 
prizes,  that  they  advise  Mr.  Rust  and  Mr.Yancey 
to  leave  Europe.  We  are  in  evil  case  between 
North  and  South.  I  met  a  reverend  doctor,  who 
is  most  bitter  in  his  expressions  towards  us ;  and 
I  dare  say,  Bishop  and  General  Leonidas  Polk, 
down  South,  would  not  be  much  better  disposed. 
The  clergy  are  active  on  both  sides ;  and  their 


HO 


MY  DIART  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


flocks  approve  of  their  holy  violence.  One  jour 
nal  tells  with  much  gusto  of  a  blasphemous  chap 
lain,  a  remarkably  good  rifle  shot,  who  went  into 
one  of  the  skirmishes  lately,  and  killed  a  number 
of  rebels — the  joke  being  in  the  fact,  that  each 
time  he  £red  and  brought  down  his  man,  he  ex- 
claim^:!,  piously,  "  May  Heaven  have  mercy  on 
your  soul !"  One  Father  Mooney,  who  performed 
the  novel  act  for  a  clergyman  of  "christening"  a 
big  gun  at  Washington  the  other  day,  wound  up 
the  speech  he  made  on  the  occasion,  by  declaring 
"  the  echo  of  its  voice  would  be  sweet  music, 
inviting  the  children  of  Columbia  to  share  the 
comforts  of  his  father's  home."  Can  impiety,  and 
folly,  and  bad  taste,  go  further  ? 


CHAPTER  XLIV.  *f" 

Departure  for  Washington— A  "  servant  "—The  Ameri 
can  Press  on  the  War — Military  aspect  of  the  States — 
Philadelphia — Baltimore — Washington— Lord  Lyons — 
Mr.  Sumner — Irritation  against  Great  Britain — u  Inde 
pendence  "  day — Meeting  of  Congress — General  state 
of  aft'airs. 

July  3rd. — Up  early,  breakfasted  at  five  A.  M., 
and  left  my  hospitable  host's  roof,  on  my  way  to 
Washington.  The  ferry-boat,  which  is  a  long 
way  off,  starts  for  the  train  at  seven  o'clock ;  and 
so  bad  are  the  roads,  I  nearly  missed  it.  On 
hurrying  to  secure  my  place  in  the  train,  I  said 
to  one  .of  the  railway  officers,  "  If  you  see  a 
coloured  man  in  a  cloth  cap  and  dark  coat  with 
metal  buttons,  will  you  be  good  enough,  sir,  to 
tell  him  I'm  in  this  carriage."  "  Why  so,  sir?" 
"  He  is  my  servant."  "  Servant,"  he  repeated ; 
" your  servant !  I  presume  you're  a  Britisher; 
and.  if  he's  your  servant,  I  think  you  may  as  well 
let  him  find  you."  And  so  he  walked  away, 
delighted  with  his  cleverness,  his  civility,  and  his 
rebuke  of  an'  aristocrat. 

Nearly  four  months  since  I  went  by  this  road 
to  Washington.  The  change  which  has  since 
occurred  is  beyond  belief.  Men  were  then  speak 
ing  of  place  under  Government,  of  compromises 
between  North  and  South,  and  of  peace;  now 
they  only  talk  of  war  and  battle.  Ever  since  I 
came  out  of  the  South,  and  could  see  the  news 
papers,  I  have  been  struck  by  the  easiness  of  the 
American  people,  by  their  excessive  credulit}'. 
Whether  they  wish  it  or  not,  they  are  certainly 
deceived.  Not  a  day  has  passed  without  the  an 
nouncement  that  the  Federal  troops  were  moving, 
and  that  "  a  great  battle  was  expected  "  by  some 
body  unknown,  at  some  place  or  other. 

I  could  not  help  observing  the  arrogant  tone 
with  which  writers  of  stupendous  ignorance  on 
military  matters  write  of  the  operations  which 
they  think  the  Generals  should  undertake.  They 
demand  that  an  army,  which  has  neither  adequate 
transport,  artillery,  nor  cavalry,  shall  be  pushed 
forward  to  Richmond  to  crush  out  Secession,  and 
at  the  same  time  their  columns  teem  with  accounts 
from  the  army,  which  prove  that  it  is  not  only  ill- 
disciplined,  but  that  it  is  ill-provided.  A  general 
outcry  has  been  raised  against  the  war  depart 
ment  and  the  contractors,  and  it  is  openly  stated 
that  Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary,  has  not  clean 
hands.  One  journalist  denounces  "  the  swindling 
and  plunder"  which  prevailed  under  his  eyes.  A 
minister  who  is  disposed  to  be  corrupt  can  be  so 
with  facility  under  the  system  of  the  United 
States,  because  he  has  absolute  control  over  the 


contracts,  which  are  rising  to  an  enormous  mag 
nitude,  as  the  war  preparations  assume  more  for 
midable  dimensions.  The  greater  part  of  the 
military  stores  of  the  State  are  in  the  South — 
arms,  ordnance,  clothing,  ammunition,  ships,  ma 
chinery,  and  all  kinds  of  materiel  must  be  pre 
pared  in  a  hurry. 

The  condition  in  which  the  States  present 
themselves,  particularly  at  sea,  is  a  curious  com 
mentary  on  the  offensive  and  warlike  tone  of 
their  Statesmen  in  their  dealings  with  the  first 
maritime  power  of  the  world.  They  cannot 
blockade  a  single  port  effectually.  The  Confede 
rate  steamer  Sumter  has  escaped  to  sea  from  New 
Orleans,  and  ships  run  in  and  out  of  Charleston 
almost  as  they  please.  Coming  so  recently  from 
the  South,  I  can  see  the  great  difference  which 
exists  ^between  the  two  races,  as  they  may  be 
called,  exemplified  in  the  men  I  have  seen,  and 
those  who  are  in  the  train  going  towards  Wash 
ington.  These  volunteers  have  none  of  the  swash 
buckler  bravado,  gallant-swaggering  air  of  the 
Southern  men.  They  are  staid,  quiet  men,  and 
the  Pennsylvania^,  who  are  on  their  way  to 
join  their  regiment  in  Baltimore,  are  very  inferior 
in  size  and  strength  to  the  Tennesseans  and  Caro 
linians. 

The  train  is  full  of  men  in  uniform.  When  I 
last  went  over  the  line,  I  do  not  believe  there 
was  a  sign  of  soldiering  beyond  perhaps  the 
"  conductor,"  who  is  always  described  in  the 
papers  as  being  "  gentlemanly,"  with  his  badge. 
And,  d-propos  of  badges,  I  see  that  civilians  have 
taken  to  wearing  shields  of  metal  on  their  coats, 
enamelled  with  the  stars  and  stripes,  and  that 
men  who  are  not  in  the  army  try  to  make  it 
seem  they  are  soldiers  by  affecting  military  caps 
and  cloaks. 

The  country  between  Washington  and  Phila 
delphia  is  destitute  of  natural  beauties,  but  it 
affords  abundant  evidence  that  it  is  inhabited  by 
a  prosperous,  comfortable,  middle-class  commu 
nity.  From  every  village  church,  and  from  many 
houses,  the  Union  flag  was  displayed.  Four 
months  ago  not  one  was  to  be  seen.  When  we 
were  crossing  in  the  steam  ferry-boat  at  Philadel 
phia,  I  saw  some  volunteers  looking  up  and  smil 
ing  at  a  hatchet  which  was  over  the  cabin  door, 
and  it  was  not  till  I  saw  it  had  the  words  "  States 
Rights'  Fire  Axe  "  painted  along  the  handle  1 
could  account  for  the  attraction.  It  would  fare 
ill  with  any  vessel  in  Southern  waters  which 
displayed  an  axe  to  the  citizens  inscribed  with 
"  Down  with  States  Rights"  on  it.  There  is 
certainly  less  vehemence  and  bitterness  among 
the  Northerners  ;  but  it  might  be  ^erroneous  to 
suppose  there  was  less  determination. 

Below  Philadelphia,  from  Havre-de-Grace  all 
the  way  to  Baltimore,  and  thence  on  to  Washing 
ton,  the  stations  on  Jhe  rail  were  guarded  by 
soldiers,  as  though  an  enemy  were  expected  to 
destroy  the  bridges  and  to  tear  up  the  rails. 
Wooden  bridges  and  causeways,  carried  over 
piles  and  embankments,  are  necessary,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  nature  of  the  country ;  and  at  each 
of  these  a  small  camp  was  formed  for  the  sol 
diers  who  have  to  guard  the  approaches.  Senti 
nels  are  posted,  pickets  thrown  out.  and  in  the 
open  field  by  the  way-side  troops  are  to  be  seen 
moving,  as  though  a  battle  was  close  at  hand. 
In  one  word,  we  are  in  the  State  of  Maryland. 
By  these  means  alone  are  communications  main- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


141 


tained  between  the  North  and  the  capital.  As 
we  approach  Baltimore  tho  number  of  sentinels 
and  camps  increase,  and  earthworks  have  been 
thrown  up  on  the  high  grounds  commanding  the 
city.  The  display  of  Federal  flags  from  the  pub 
lic  buildings  and  some  shipping  in  the  river  was 
so  limited  as  to  contrast  strongly  with  those  sym 
bols  of  Union  sentiments  in  the  Northern  cities. 

Since  I  last  passed  through  this  city  the  streets 
have  been  a  scene  of  bloodshed.  The  conductor 
of  the  car  on  which  we  travelled  from  one  termi 
nus  to  the  other,  along  the  street  railway,  pointed 
out  the  marks  of  the  bullets  on  the  walls  and  in 
the  window  frames.  "That's  the  way  to  deal 
with  the  Plug  Ugfies,"  exclaimed  he;  a  name 
given  popularly  to  the  lower  classes  called  Row 
dies  in  New  York.  "  Yes,"  said  a  fellow-passen 
ger  quietly  to  me,  "  these  are  the  sentiments 
which  are  now  uttered  in  the  country  which  we 
call  the  land  of  freedom,  and  men  like  that  desire 
nothing  better  than  brute  force.  There  is  no  city 
in  Europe — Venice,  Warsaw,  or  Rome — subject 
to  such  tyranny  as  Baltimore  at  this  moment.  In 
this  Pratt  Street  there  have  been  murders  as  foul 
as  ever  soldiery  committed  in  the  streets  of  Paris." 
Here  was  evidently  the  judicial  blindness  of  a 
States  Rights  fanatic,  who  considers  the  despatch 
of  Federal  soldiers  through  the  State  of  Maryland 
without  the  permission  of  the  authorities  an  out 
rage  so  flagrant  as  to  justify  the  people  in  shoot 
ing  them  down,  whilst  the  soldiers  become  mur 
derers  if  they  resist.  At  the  corners  of  the  streets 
strong  guards  of  soldiers  were  posted,  and  patrols 
moved  up  and  down  the  thoroughfares.  The 
inhabitants  looked  sullen  and  sad.  A  small  war 
is  waged  by  the  police  recently  appointed  by  the 
Federal  authorities  against  the  women,  who 
exhibit  much  ingenuity  in  expressing  their  ani 
mosity  to  the  stars  and  stripes — dressing  the 
children,  and  even  dolls,  in  the  Confederate 
colours,  and  wearing  the  same  in  ribbons  and 
bows.  The  negro  population  alone  seemed  just 
the  same  as  before. 

The  Secession  newspapers  of  Baltimore  have 
been  suppressed,  but  the  editors  contrive  never 
theless  to  show  their  sympathies  in  the  selection 
of  their  extracts.  In  to-day's  paper  there  is  an 
account  of  a  skirmish  in  the  "West,  given  by  one 
of  the  Confederates  who  took  part  in  it,  in  which 
it  is  stated  that  the  officer  commanding  the  party 
"  scalped  "  twenty-three  Federals.  For  the  first 
time  since  I  left  the  South  I  see  those  advertise 
ments  headed  by  the  figure  of  a  negro  running 
with  a  bundle,  and  containing  descriptions  of  the 
fugitive,  and  the  reward  offered  for  imprisoning 
him  or  her,  so  that  the  owner  may  receive  his 
property.  Among  the  insignia  enumerated  are 
scars  on  the  back  and  over  the  loins.  The  whip 
is  not  only  used  by  the  masters  and  drivers,  but 
by  the  police ;  and  in  every  report  of  petty  police 
cases  sentences  of  so  matiy  lashes,  and  severe 
floggings  of  women  of  colour,  are  recorded. 

It  is  about  forty  miles  from  Baltimore  to  "Wash 
ington,  and  at  every  quarter  of  a  mile  for  the 
whole  distance  a  picket  of  soldiers  guarded  the 
rails.  Camps  appeared  on  both  sides,  larger  and 
more  closely  packed  together ;  and  the  rays  of 
the  setting  sun  fell  on  countless  lines  of  tents  as 
we  approached  the  unfinished  dome  of  the  Capi 
tol.  On  the  Yirginian  side  of  the  river,  columns 
of  smoke  rising  from  the  forest  marked  the  site  of 
Federal  encampments  across  the  stream.  The 


fields  around  Washington  resounded  with  the 
words  of  command  and  tramp  of  men,  and  flashed 
with  wheeling  arms.  Parks  of  artillery  studded 
the  waste  ground,  and  long  trains  of  white-cover 
ed  wagons  filled  up  the  open  spaces  in  the 
suburbs  of  Washington. 

To  me  all  this  was  a  wonderful  sight.  As  I 
drove  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue  I  could  scarce 
credit  that  busy  thoroughfare — all  red,  white,  and 
blue  with  flags,  filled  with  dust  from  galloping 
chargers  and  commissariat  carts ;  the  side-walks 
thronged  with  people,  of  whom  a  large  proportion 
carried  sword  or  bayonet ;  shops  full  of  life  and 
activity — was  the  same  as  that  through  which  I 
had  driven  the  first  morning  of  my  arrival. 
Washington  now,  indeed,  is  the  capital  of  the 
United  States ;  but  it  is  no  longer  the  scene  of 
beneficent  legislation  and  of  peaceful  government. 
It  is  the  representative  of  armed  force  engaged  in 
war — menaced  whilst  in  the  very  act  of  raising  its 
arm  by  the  enemy  it  seeks  to  strike. 

To  avoid  the  tumult  of  Willard's,  I  requested 
a  friend  to  hire  apartments  and  drove  to  a  house 
in  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  close  to  the  War  De 
partment,  where  he  had  succeeded  in  engaging  a 
sitting-room  about  twelve  feet  square,  andii  bed 
room  to  correspond,  in  a  very  small  mansion, 
next  door  to  a  spirit  merchant's.  At  the  Lega 
tion  I  saw  Lord  Lyons,  and  gave  him  a  brief 
account  of  what  I  had  seen  in  the  South.  I  was 
sorry  to  observe  he  looked  rather  careworn  and 
pale. 

The  relations  of  the  United  States'  Govern 
ment  with  Great  Britain  have  probably  been  con 
siderably  affected  by  Mr.  Seward's  failure  in 
his  prophecies.  As  the  Southern  Confederacy 
develops  its  power,  the  Foreign  Secretary  assumes 
higher  ground,  and  becomes  more  exacting  and 
defiant.  In  these  hot  summer  days,  Lord  Lyons 
and  the  members  of  the  Legation  dine  early,  and 
enjoy  the  cool  of  the  evening  in  the  garden :  so 
after  a  while  I  took  my  leave,  and  proceeded  to 
Gautier's.  On  my  way  I  met  Mr.  Sumner,  who 
asked  me  for  Southern  news  very  anxiously,  and 
in  the  course  of  conversation  with  him  I  was  con 
firmed  in  my  impressions  that  the  feeling  between 
the  two  countries  was  not  as  friendly  as  could  be 
desired.  Lord  Lyons  had  better  means  of  know 
ing  what  is  going  on  in  the  South,  by  communi 
cations  from  the  British  Consuls;  but  even  he 
seemed  unaware  »of  facts  which  had  occurred 
whilst  I  was  there,  and  Mr.  Sumner  appeared  to 
be  as  ignorant  of  the  whole  condition  of  things 
below  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  as  he  was  of  the 
politics  of  Timbuctoo. 

The  importance  of  maintaining  a  friendly  feel 
ing  with  England  appeared  to  me  very  strongly 
impressed  on  the  Senator's  mind.  Mr.  Seward 
has  been  fretful,  irritable,  and  acrimonious ;  and 
it  is  not  too  much  to  suppose  Mr.  Sumner 
has  been  useful  in  allaying  irritation.  A  certain 
despatch  was  written  last  June,  which  amounted 
to  little  less  than  a  declaration  of  war  against 
Great  Britain.  Most  fortunately  the  President 
was  induced  to  exercise  his  power.  The  despatch 
was  modified,  though  not  without  opposition,  and 
was  forwarded  to  the  English  Minister  with  its 
teeth  drawn.  Lord  Lyons,  who  is  one  of  the 
suavest  and  quietest  of  diplomatists,  has  found  it 
difficult,  I  fear,  to  maintain  personal  relations 
with  Mr.  Seward  at  times.  Two  despatches  have 
been  prepared  for  Lord  John  Russell,  which  could 


H2 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH.  . 


/lave  had  no  result  but  to  lead  to  a  breach  of  the 
peace,  had  not  some  friendly  interpositor  suc 
ceeded  in  averting  the  wrath  of  the  Foreign  Mi 
nister. 

Mr.  Sumner  is  more  sanguine  of  immediate 
success  than  I  am,  from  the  military  operations 
which  are  to  commence  when  General  Scott  con 
siders  the  army  fit  to  take  the  field.  At  Gautier's 
I  met  a  number  of  officers,  who  expressed  a  great 
diversityof  views  in  reference  to  those  operations. 
General  M'Dowell  is  popular  with  them,  but 
they  admit  the  great  deficiencies  of  the  subaltern 
and  company  officers.  General  Scott  is  too  infirm 
to  take  the  field,  and  the  burdens  of  administra 
tion  press  the  veteran  to  the  earth. 

July  ±th. — "Independence  Day."  Fortunate 
to  escape  this  great  national  festival  in  the  large 
cities  of  the  Union  where  it  is  celebrated  with 
many  days  before  and  after  of  surplus  rejoicing, 
by  fireworks  and  an  incessant  fusillade  in  the 
streets,  I  was,  nevertheless,  subjected  to  the 
small  ebullition  of  the  Washington  juveniles,  to 
bell-ringing  and  discharges  of  cannon  and  mus 
ketry.  On  this  day  Congress  meets.  Never  be 
fore  lips  any  legislative  body  assembled  under 
circumstances  so  grave.  By  their  action  they  will 
decide  whether  the  Union  can  ever  be  restored, 
and  will  determine  whether  the  States  of  the 
North  are  to  commence  an  invasion  for  the  pur 
pose  of  subjecting  by  force  of  arms,  and  depriv 
ing  of  their  freedom,  the  States  of  the  South. 

Congress  met  to-day,  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
forming  itself  into  a  regular  body,  and  there  was 
no  debate  or  business  of  public  importance  intro 
duced.  Mr.  Wilson  gave  me  to  understand,  how 
ever,  that  some  military  movements  of  the  utmost 
importance  might  be  expected  in  a  few  days,  and 
that  General  M'Dowell  would  positively  attack 
the  rebels  in  front  of  Washington.  The  Confe 
derates  occupy  the  whole  of  Northern  Virginia, 
commencing  from  the  peninsula  above  Fortress 
Monroe  on  the  right  or  east,  and  extending  along 
the  Potomac,  to  the  extreme  verge  of  the  State, 
by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway.  This  im- 
men%e  line,  however,  is  broken  by  great  intervals, 
and  the  army  with  which  M'Dowell  will  have  to 
deal  may  be  considered  as  detached,  covering  the 
approaches  to  Richmond,  whilst  its  left  flank  is 
protected  by  a  corps  of  observation,  stationed 
near  Winchester,  under  General  Jackson.  A 
Federal  corps  is  being  prepared  to  watch  the 
corps  and  engage  it,  whilst  M'Dowell  advances 
on  the  main  body.  To  the  right  of  this  again,  or 
further  west,  another  body  of  Federals,  under 
General  M'Clellan,  is  operating  in  the  valleys  of 
the  Shenandoah  and  in  Western  Virginia ;  but  I 
did  not  hear  any  of  these  things  from  Mr.  Wil 
son,  who  was,  I  am  sure,  in  perfect  ignorance  of 
the  plans,  in  a  military  sense,  of  the  general.  I 
gat  at  Mr.  Sumner's  desk,  and  wrote  the  final  pa 
ragraphs  of  a  letter  describing  my  impressions  of 
the  South  in  a  place  but  little  disposed  to  give  a 
favourable  colour  to  them. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

Interview  with  Mr.  Seward — My  passport — Mr.  Se-vrarcTa 
views  as  to  the  war — Illumination  at  Washington — My 
"servant"  absents  himself— New  York  journalism — 
The  Capitol— Interior  of  Congress— The  President's 
Message — Speeches  in  Congress — Lord  Lyons — Gene 
ral  M'Dowell — Low  standard  in  the  army — Accident 
to  the  "  Stars  and  Stripes  "—A  street  row— Mr.  Bige- 
low— Mr.  N.  P.  Willis. 

WHEN  the  Senate  had  adjourned,  I  drove  to 
the  State  Department,  and  saw  Mr.  Seward,  who 
looked  much  more  worn  and  haggard  than  when 
I  saw  him  last,  three  months  ago.  He  congratu 
lated  me  on  my  safe  return  from  the  South  in 
time  to  witness  some  stirring  events.  "  Well, 
Mr.  Secretary,  I  am  quite  sure  that,  if  all  the 
South  are  of  the  same- mind  as  those  I  met  in  my 
travels,  there  will  be  many  battles  before  they 
submit  to  the  Federal  Government." 

"  It  is  not  submission  to  the  Government  we 
want ;  it  is  to  assent  to  the  principles  of  the  Con 
stitution.  When  you  left  Washington  we  had  a 
few  hundred  regulars  and  some  hastily-levied 
militia  to  defend  the  national  capital,  and  a  bat 
tery  and  a  half  of  artillery  under  the  command  of 
a  traitor.  The  Navy -yard  was  in  the  hands  of  a 
disloyal  officer.  We  were  surrounded  by  treason. 
Now  we  are  supported  by  the  loyal  States  which 
have  come  forward  in  defence  of  the  best  Govern 
ment  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  the  unfortu 
nate  and  desperate  men  who  have  commenced 
this  struggle  will  have  to  yield,  or  experience  the 
punishment  due  to  their  crimes." 

"  But,  Mr.  Seward,  has  not  this  great  exhibi 
tion  of  strength  been  attended  by  some  circum 
stances  calculated  to  inspire  apprehension  that 
liberty  in  the  free  States  may  be  impaired ;  for 
instance,  I  hear  that  I  must  procure  a  passport 
in  order  to  travel  through  the  States  and  go  into 
the  camps  in  front  of  Washington." 

"  Yes,  sir;  you  must  send  your  passport  here 
from  Lord  Lyons,  with  his  signature.  It  will  bo 
no  good  till  I  have  signed  it,  and  then  it  must  be 
sent  to  General  Scott,  as  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  United  States  army,  who  will  subscribe  it, 
after  which  it  will  be  available  for  all  legitimate 
purposes.  You  are  not  in  any  way  unpaired  in 
your  liberty  by  the  process." 

"Neither  is,  one  may  say,  the  man  who  is 
under  surveillance  of  the  police  in  despotic  coun 
tries  in  Europe  ;  he  has  only  to  submit  to  a  cer 
tain  formality,  and  he  is  all  right;  in  fact,  it  is 
said  by  some  people,  that  the  protection  afforded 
by  a  passport  is  worth  all  the  trouble  connected 
with  having  it  in  order." 

Mr.  Seward  soemed  to  think  it  was  quite  likely. 
There  were  corresponding  measures  taken  in  the 
Southern  States  by  the  rebels,  and  it  was  neces 
sary  to  have  some  control  over  traitors  and  dis 
loyal  persons.  "In  this  contest."  said  he,  "the 
Government  will  not  shrink  from  using  all  the 
means  which  they  consider  necessary  to  restore 
the  Union."  It  was  not  my  place  to  remark  that 
such  doctrines  were  exactly  identical  with  all 
that  despotic  governments  in  Europe  have  ad 
vanced  as  the  ground  of  action  in  cases  of  revolt. 
or  with  a  view  to  the  maintenance  of  their  strong 
Governments.  "The  Executive."  said  he,  "has 
declared  in  the  inaugural  that  the  rights  of  the 
Federal  Government  shall  be  fully  vindicated. 
We  are  dealing  with  an  insurrection  within  our 
own  country,  of  our  own  people,  and  the  Govern 
ment  of  Great  Britain  have  thought  fit  to  recognise 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


143 


that  insurrection  before  we  were  able  to  bring  the 
strength  of  the  Union  to  bear  against  it,  by  con 
ceding  to  it  the  status  of  belligerent.  Although 
we  might  justly  complain  of  such  an  unfriendly 
act  in  a  manner  that  might  injure  the  friendly 
relations  between  the  two  countries,  we  do  not 
desire  to  give  any  excuse  for  foreign  interference ; 
although  we  do  not  hesitate,  in  case  of  necessity, 
to  resist  it  to  the  uttermost,  we  have  less  to  fear 
from  a  foreign  war  than  any  country  in  the  world. 
If  any  European  Power  provokes  a  war,  we  shall 
not  shrink  from  it.  A  contest  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  would  wrap  the 
world  in  fire,  and  at  the  end  it  would  not  be  the 
United  States  which  would  have  to  lament  the 
results  of  the  conflict." 

I  could  not  but  admire  the  confidence — may  I 
say  the  coolness  ? — of  the  statesman  who  sat  in 
his  modest  little  room  within  the  sound  of  the 
enemy's  guns,  in  a  capital  menaced  by  their 
forces,  who  spoke  so  fearlessly  of  war  with  a 
Power  which  could  have  blotted  out  the  paper 
blockade  of  the  Southern  forts  and  coast  in  a  few 
hours,  and,  in  conjunction  with  the  Southern 
armies,  have  repeated  the  occupation  and  des 
truction  of  the  capital. 

The  President  sent  for  Mr.  Seward  whilst  I 
was  in  the  State  Department,  and  I  walked  up 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  to  my  lodgings,  through  a 
crowd  of  men  in  uniform  who  were  celebrating 
Independence  Day  in  their  own  fashion — some 
by  the  large  internal  use  of  fire-water,  others  by 
an  external  display  of  fire- works. 

Directly  opposite  my  lodgings  are  the  head 
quarters  of  General  Mansfield,  commanding  the 
district,  which  are  marked  by  a  guard  at  the 
door  and  a  couple  of  six-pounder  guns  pointing 
down  the  street.  I  called  upon  the  General,  but 
he  was  busy  examining  certain  inhabitants  of 
Alexandria  and  of  Washington  itself,  who  had 
been  brought  before  him  on  the  charge  of  being 
Secessionists,  and  I  left  my  card,  and  proceeded 
to  General  Scott's  head-quarters,  which  I  found 
packed  with  officers.  The  General  received  me 
in  a  small  room,  and  expressed  his  gratification 
at  my  return,  but  I  saw  he  was  so  busy  with 
reports,  despatches,  and  maps,  that  I  did  not 
trespass  on  his  time.  I  dined  with  Lord  Lyons, 
and  afterwards  went  with  some  members  of  the 
Legation  to  visit  the  camps,  situated  in  the  pub 
lic  square. 

All  the  population  of  "Washington  had  turned 
out  in  their  best  to  listen  to  the  military  bands, 
the  music  of  which  was  rendered  nearly  inaudible 
by  the  constant  discharge  of  fireworks.  The 
camp  of  the  12th  New  York  presented  a  very 
pretty  and  animated  scene.  The  men  liberated 
from  duty  were  enjoying  themselves  out  and  in 
side  their  tents,  and  the  sutlers'  booths  were 
driving  a  roaring  trade.  I  was  introduced  to 
Colonel  Butterfield,  commanding  the  regiment, 
who  was  a  merchant  of  New  York ;  but  notwith 
standing  the  training  of  the  counting-house,  he 
looked  very  much  like  a  soldier,  and  had  got  his 
regiment  ver}'  fairly  in  hand.  In  compliance 
with  a  desire  of  Professor  Henry,  the  Colonel 
had  prepared  a  number  of  statistical  tables  in 
which  the  nationality,  hefght,  weight,  breadth  of 
chest,  age,  and  other  particulars  respecting  the 
men  under  his  command  were  entered.  I  looked 
over  the  book,  and  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  but 
two  out  of  twelve  of  the  soldiers  were  "native- 


born  Americans,  the  rest  being  Irish,  German, 
English,  and  European-born  generally.  Accord 
ing  to  the  commanding  officer  they  were  in  the 
highest  state  of  discipline  and  obedience.  He 
had  given  them  leave  to  go  out  as  they  pleased 
for  the  day,  but  at  tattoo  only  14  men  out  of  1000 
were  absent,  and  some  of  those  had  been  ac 
counted  for  by  reports  that  they  were  incapable 
of  locomotion  owing  to  the  hospitality  of  the 
citizens. 

When  I  returned  to  my  lodgings,  the  coloured 
boy  whom  I  had  hired  at  Niagara  was  absent, 
and  I  was  told  he  had  not  come  in  since  the 
night  before.  "These  free  coloured  boys,"  said 
my  landlord,  "  are  a  bad  set ;  now  they  ace  worse 
than  ever ;  the  officers  of  the  army  are  taking 
them  all  away  from  us;  it's  just  the  life  they 
like ;  they  get  little  work,  have  good  pay ;  but 
what  they  like  most  is  robbing  and  plundering 
the  farmers'  houses  over  in  Virginia  ;  what  with 
Germans,  Irish,  and  free  niggers,  Lord  help  the 
poor  Virginians,  I  say ;  but  they'll  give  them  a 
turn  yet." 

The  sounds  in  Washington  to-night  might  have 
led  one  to  believe  the  city  was  carried  by  storm. 
Constant  explosion  of  fire-arms,  fireworks,  shout 
ing,  and  cries  in  the  streets,  which  combined 
with  the  heat  and  the  abominable  odours  of  the 
undrained  houses  and  mosquitoes,  to  drive  sleep 
far  away. 

July  5th. — As  the  young  gentleman  of  colour, 
to  whom  I  had  given  egregious  ransom  as  well 
as  an  advance  of  wages,  did  not  appear  this 
morning,  I  was,  after  an  abortive  attempt  to  boil 
water  for  coffee  and  to  get  a  piece  of  toast,  com 
pelled  to  go  in  next  door,  and  avail  myself  of  the 
hospitality  of  Captain  Cecil  Johnson,  who  was 
installed  in  the  drawing-room  of  Madame  Jost. 
In  the  forenoon,  Mr.  John  Bigelow,  whose  ac 
quaintance  I  made,  much  to  my  gratification  in 
time  gone  by,  on  the  margin  of  the  Lake  of  Thun, 
found  me  out,  and  proffered  his  services ;  which, 
as  the  whileom  editor  of  the  Evening  Post  and  as 
a  leading  Republican,  he  was  in  a  position  to 
render  valuable  and  most  effective ;  but  he  could 
not  make  a  Bucephalus  to  order,  and  I  haf  e  been 
running  through  the  stables  of  Washington  in 
vain,  hoping  to  find  something  up  to  my  weight 
— such  fiankless,  screwy,  shoulderless,  cat-like 
creatures  were  never  seen — four  of  them  would 
scarcely  furnish  ribs  and  legs  enough  to  carry  a 
man,  but  the  owners  thought  that  each  of  them 
was  fit  for  Baron  Rothschild;  and  then  tht-re 
was  saddlery  and  equipments  of  all  sorts  to  be 
got,  which  the  influx  of  officers  and  the  badness 
and  dearness  of  the  material  put  quite  beyond 
one's  reach.  Mr.  Bigelow  was  of  opinion  that 
the  army  would  move  at  once;  "but,"  said  L, 
"  where  is  the  transport — where  the  cavalry  and 
guns  ?"  "  Oh,"  replied  he,  "  I  suppose  we  have 
got  everything  that  is  required.  I  know  nothing 
of  these  things,  but  I  am  told  cavalry  are  no  use 
in  the  wooded  country  towards  Richmond."  I 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  go  through  the  camps, 
but  I  doubt  very  much  whether  the  material  or 
commissariat  of  the  grand  army  of  the  North  is 
at  all  adequate  to  a  campaign. 

The  presumption  and  ignorance  of  the  New 
York  journals  would  be  ridiculous  were  they  not 
so  mischievous.  They  describe  "  this  horde  of 
battalion  companies — unofficered,  clad  in  all 
kinds  of  different  uniform,  diversely  equipped, 


144  MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

perfectly  ignorant  of  the   principles  of  military  Vof 

obedience  and  concerted  action," — for  so  I  hear 

It  described  by  United  States  officers  themselves    spect :  it  looks  best  at  a  distance ;  and,  again,  it 

— as  beinsr  "  the  greatest  army  the  world  ever    is  incongruous  in  its  parts.      The  mssaeres  are  so 


photographs. 
it  is  unfinished. 


Like  the  Great  Republic  itself, 
It  resembles  it  in  another  re- 


-as  being  "  the  greatest  army  the 
saw ;  perfect  in  officers  and  discipline ;  unsur 
passed  in  devotion  and  courage ;  furnished  with 
every  requisite ;  and  destined  on  its  first  march 
to  sweep  into  Richmond,  and  to  obliterate  from 
the  Potomac  to  New  Orleans  every  trace  of 
rebellion." 

The  Congress  met  to-day  to  hear  the  Presi 
dent's  Message  read.  Somehow  or  other  there  is 
not  such  anxiety  and  eagerness  to  hear  what  Mr. 
Lincoln  has  to  say  as  one  could  expect  on  such  a 
momentous  occasion.  It  would  seem  as  if  the 
forthcoming  appeal  to  arms  had  overshadowed 
every  other  sentiment  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 
They  are  waiting  for  deeds,  and  care  not  for 
words.  The  confidence  of  the  New  York  papers, 
and  of  the  citizens,  soldiers,  and  public  speakers, 
contrast  with  the  dubious  and  gloomy  views  of 
the  .military  men ;  but  of  this  Message  itself  there 
are  some  incidents  independent  of  the  occasion  to 
render  it  curious,  if  not  interesting.  The  Presi 
dent  has,  it  is  said,  written  much  of  it  in  his  own 
fashion,  which  has  been  revised  and  altered  by 
his  Ministers ;  but  he  has  written  it  again  and 
repeated  himself,  and  after  many  struggles  a 
good  deal  of  pure  Lincolnism  goes  down  to 
Congress. 

At  a  little  after  half-past  eleven  I  went  down 
to  the  Capitol.  Pennsylvania  Avenue  was 
thronged  as  before,  but  on  approaching  Capitol 
Hill,  the  crowd  rather  thinned  away,  as  though 
they  shunned,  or  had  no  curiosity  to  hear,  the 
President's  Message.  One  would  have  thought 
that,  where  every  one  who  could  get  in  was  at 
liberty  to  attend  the  galleries  in  both  Houses, 
there  would  have  been  an  immense  pressure 
from  the  inhabitants  and  strangers  in  the  city,  as 
well  as  from  the  citizen  soldiers,  of  which  such 
multitudes  were  in  the  street ;  but  when  I  looked 
up  from  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  I  was  astonished 


incongruous  in  its  parts.  The  passages  are  so 
dark  that  artificial  light  is  often  required  to  enable 
one  to  find  his  way.  The  offices  and  bureaux 
of  the  committees  are  better  than  the  chambers 
of  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Representatives. 
All  the  encaustics  and  the  white  marble  and 
stone  staircases  suffer  from  tobacco  juice,  though 
there  is  a  liberal  display  of  spittoons  at  every 
corner.  The  official  messengers,  doorkeepers, 
and  porters  wear  no  distinctive  badge  or  dress. 
No  policemen  are  on  duty,  as  in  our  Houses  of 
Parliament ;  no  soldiery,  gendarmerie,  or  sergens- 
de-ville  in  the  precincts;  the  crowd  wanders 
about  the  passages  as  it  pleases,  and  shows  the 
utmost  propriety,  never  going  where  it  ought  not 
to  intrude.  There  is  a  special  gallery  set  apart 
for  women ;  the  reporters  are  commodiously 
placed  in  an  ample  gallery,  above  the  Speaker's 
chair;  the  diplomatic  circle  have  their  gallery 
facing  the  reporters,  and  they  are  placed  so  low 
down  in  the  somewhat  depressed  Chamber,  that 
every  word  can  be  heard  from  speakers  in  the 
remotest  parts  of  the  house  very  distinctly. 

The  seats  of  the  members  are  disposed  in  a 
manner  somewhat  like  those  in  the  French 
Chambers.  Instead  of  being  in  parallel  rows  to 
the  walls,  and  at  right  angles  to  the  Chairman's 
seat,  the  separate  chairs  and  desks  of  the  Sena 
tors  are  arranged  in  semicircular  rows.  The 
space  between  the  walls  and  the  outer  semicircle 
is  called  the  floor  of  the  house,  and  it  is  a  high 
compliment  to  a  stranger  to  introduce  him  within 
this  privileged  place.  There  are  leather  cush 
ioned  seats  and  lounges  put  for  the  accommoda 
tion  of  those  who  may  be  introduced  by  Senators, 
or  to  whom,  as  distinguished  members  of  Con 
gress  in  former  days,  the  permission  is  given  to 
take  their  seats.  Senators  Sunnier  and  Wilson 
introduced  me  to  a  chair,  and  made  me  acquaint 
ed  with  a  number  of  Senators  before  the  business 


to  see  that  the  galleries  were  not  more  than    of  the  day  began. 


three  parts  filled.  There  is  always  a  ruinous 
look  a^out  an  unfinished  building  when  it  is 
occupied  and  devoted  to  business.  The  Capitol 
is  situated  on  a  hill,  one  face  of  which  is  scarped 
by  the  road,  and  has  the  appearance  of  being 
formed  of  heaps  of  rubbish.  Towards  Pennsyl 
vania  Avenue  the  long  frontage  abuts  on  a  lawn 
shaded  by  trees,  through  which  walks  and  ave 
nues  lead  to  the  many  entrances  under  the  porti 
coes  and  colonnades;  the  face  which  corresponds 
on  the  other  side  looks  out  on  heaps  of  brick  and 
mortar,  cut  stone,  and  a  waste  of  marble  blocks 
lying  half  buried  in  the  earth  and  cumbering  the 
ground,  which,  in  the  magnificent  ideas  of  the 


Mr.  Surnner,  as  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Relations,  is  supposed  to  be  viewed 
with  some  jealousy  by  Mr.  Seward,  on  account 
of  the  disposition  attributed  to  him  to  interfere 
in  diplomatic  questions ;  but  if  he  does  so,  we 
shall  have  no  reason  to  complain,  as  the  Senator 
is  most  desirous  of  keeping  the  peace  between 
the  two  countries,  and  of  mollifying  any  little 
acerbities  and  irritations  which  may  at  present 
exist  between  them.  Senator  Wilson  is  a  man 
who  has  risen  from  what  would  be  considered  in 
any  country  but  a  republic  the  lowest  ranks  of 
the  people.  He  apprenticed  himself  to  a  poor 
shoemaker  when  he  was  twenty-two  years  of 


founders  and  planners  of  the  city,  was  to  be  occu-  age,  and  when  he  was  twenty-four  years  old  he 
pied  by  stately  streets.  The  cleverness  of  certain  began  to  go  to  school,  and  devoted  all  his  earn- 
speculators  in  land  prevented  the  execution  of  ings  to  the  improvement  of  education.  He  got 

on  by  degrees,  till  he  set  up  as  a  master  shoe 
maker  and  manufacturer,  became  a  "major- 
general"  of  State  militia;  finally  was  made  Sena 
tor  of  the  United  States,  and  is  now  "  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  the  Senate  on  Military  Af 
fairs."  He  is  a  bluff  man,  of  about  fifty  years 

side  between  the"  Navy -yard  "and  the  site  of  the  of  age,  with  a  peculiar  eye  and  complexion,  and 
Capitol ;  the  result — the  land  is  unoccupied,  ex-  seems  honest  and  vigorous.  But  is  he  not  going 


the  original  idea,  which  was  to  radiate  all  the 
main  avenues  of  the  city  from  the  Capitol  as  a 
centre,  the  intermediate  streets  being  formed  by 
circles  drawn  at  regularly-increasing  intervals 
from  the  Capitol,  and  intersected  by  the  radii. 
The  speculators  purchased  up  the  land  on  the 


cept  by  paltry  houses,   and  the  capitalists  are 
ruined. 

The  Capitol  would  be  best  described  by  a  series 


ultra  crepidam  in  such  a  post  ?  At  present  he 
is  much  perplexed  by  the  drunkenness  which 
prevails  among  the  troops,  or  rather  by  the  de- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


145 


J 


sire  of  the  men  for  spirits,  as  fte  has  a  New  Eng 
land  mania  on  that  point.  One  of  the  most  re 
markable-looking  men  in  the  House  is  Mr.  Sum- 
uer.  Mr.  Breckinridge  and  he  would  probably 
be  the  first  persons  to  excite  the  curiosity  of  a 
stranger,  so  far  as  to  induce  him  to  ask  for  their 
names.  Save  in  height— and  both  are  a  good 
deal  over  six  feet — there  is  no  resemblance  be 
tween  the  champion  of  States  Rights  and  the 
orator  of  the  Black  Republicans.  The  massive 
head,  the  great  chin  and  jaw,  and  the  penetrat 
ing  eyes  of  Mr.  Breckinridge  convey  the  idea  of 
a  man  of  immense  determination,  courage,  and 
sagacity.  Mr.  Sumner's  features  are  indicative 
of  a  philosophical  and  poetical  turn  of  thought, 
and  one  might  easily  conceive  that  he  would  be 
a  great  advocate,  but  an  indifferent  leader  of  a 
party. 

It  was  a  hot  day ;  but  there  was  no  excuse  for 
the  slop  coats  and  light-coloured  clothing  and  felt 
wide-awakes  worn  by  so  many  Senators'  in  such 
a  place.  They  gave  the  meeting  the -aspect  of  a 
gathering  of  bakers  or  millers :  nor  did  the  con 
stant  use  of  the  spittoons  beside  their  desks, 
their  reading  of  newspapers  and  writing  letters 
during  the  dispatch  of  business,  or  the  hurrying 
to  and  fro  of  the  pages  of  the  House  between  the 
seats,  do  anything  but  derogate  from  the  dignity 
of  the  assemblage,  and,  according  to  European 
notions,  violate  the  respect  due  to  a  Senate 
Chamber.  The  pages  alluded  to  are  smart  boys, 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  of  age,  who  stand 
below  the  President's  table,  and  are  employed  to 
go  on  errands  and  carry  official  messages  by  the 
members.  They  wear  no  particular  uniform,  and 
are  dressed  as  the  taste  or  means  of  their  parents 
dictate. 

The  House  of  Representatives  exaggerates  all 
the  peculiarities  I  have  observed  in  the  Senate, 
but  the  debates  are  not  regarded  with  so  much 
interest  as  those  of  the  Upper  House;  indeed, 
they  are  of  far  less  importance.  Strong-minded 
statesmen  and  officers — Presidents  or  Ministers 
— do  not  care  much  for  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  so  long  as  they  are  sure  of  the  Senate ; 
and,  for  the  matter  of  that,  a  President  like  Jack 
son  does  not  care  much  for  Senate  and  House 
together.  There  are  privileges  attached  to  a 
seat  in  either  branch  of  the  Legislature,  indepen 
dent  of  the  great  fact  that  they  receive  mileage 
and  are  paid  for  their  services,  which  may  add 
some  incentive  to  ambition.  Thus  the  members 
can  order  whole  tons  of  stationery  for  their  use, 
not  only  when  they  are  in  session,  but  during 
the  recess.  Their  frank  covers  parcels  by  mail, 
and  it  is  said  that  Senators  without  a  conscience 
have  sent  sewing-machines  to  their  wives  and 
pianos  to  their  daughters  as  little  parcels  by  post. 
I  had  almost  forgotten  that  much  the  same 
abuses  were  in  vogue  in  England  some  century 
ago. 

The  galleries  were  by  no  means  full,  and  in 
that  reserved  for  the  diplomatic  body  the  most 
notable  person  was  M.  Mercier,  the  Minister  of 
France,  who,  fixing  his  intelligent  and  eager 
face  between  both  hands,  watched  with  keen 
scrutiny  the  attitude  and  Conduct  of  the  Senate. 
None  of  the  members  of  the  English  Legation 
were  present.  After  the  lapse  of  an  hour,  Mr. 
Hay,  the  President's  Secretary,  made  his  appear 
ance  on  the  floor,  and  sent  in  the  Message  to  the 
Clerk  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  Forney,  who  proceeded 
K 


to  read  it  to  the  House.  It  was  listened  to  in 
silence,  scarcely  broken  except  when  some  Sena 
tor  murmured  "Good,  that  is  so;"  but  in  fact 
the  general  purport  of  it  was  already  known  to 
the  supporters  of  the  Ministry,  and  not  a  sound 
came  from  the  gallories.  Soon  after  Mr.  Forney 
had  finished,  the  galleries  were  cleared,  and  I 
returned  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  in  which  the 
crowds  of  soldiers  around  bar-rooms,  oyster 
shops,  and  restaurants,  the  groups  of  men  in 
officers'  uniform,  and  the  clattering  of  disorderly 
mounted  cavaliers  in  the  dust,  increased  my  ap'- 
prehension  that  discipline  was  very  little  re 
garded,  and  that  the  army  over  the  Potomac  had 
not  a  very  strong  hand  to  keep  it  within  bounds. 

As  I  was  walking  over  with  Captain  Johnson 
to  dine  with  Lord  Lyons,  I  met  General  Scott 
leaving  his  office  and  walking  with  great  diffi 
culty  between  two  aides-de-camp.  He  was 
dressed  in  a  blue  frock  with  gold  lace  shoulder 
straps,  fastened  round  the  waist  by  a  yellow 
sash,  and  with  large  yellow  lapels  turned  back 
over  the  chest  in  the  old  style,  and  moved  with 
great  difficulty  along  the  pavement.  "  You  see 
I  am  trying  to  hobble  along,  but  it  is  hard  for 
me  to  overcome  my  many  infirmities.  I  regret 
I  could  not  have  the  pleasure  of  granting  you  an 
interview  to-day,  but  I  shall  cause  it  to  be  inti 
mated  to  you  when  I  may  have  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  you ;  meantime  I  shall  provide  you  with  a 
pass  and  the  necessary  introductions  to  afford 
you  all  facilities  with  the  army." 

After  dinner  I  made  a  round  of  visits,  and 
heard  the  diplomatists  speaking  of  the  Message ; 
few,  if  any  of  them,  in  its  favour.  With  the  ex 
ception  perhaps  of  Baron  Gerolt,  the  Prussian 
Minister,  there  is  not  one  member  of  the  Lega 
tions  who  justifies  the  attempt  of  the  Northern 
States  to  assert  the  supremacy  of  the  Federal 
Government  by  the  force  of  arms.  Lord  Lyons, 
indeed,  in  maintaining  a  judicious  reticence  when 
ever  he  does  speak,  gives  utterance  to  senti 
ments  becoming  the  representative  of  Great 
Britain  at  the  court  of  a  friendly  Power,  and 
the  Minister  of  a  people  who  have  been  prota 
gonists  to  slavery  for  many  a  long  year. 

July  6th. — I  breakfasted  with  Mr.  Bigelow 
this  morning,  to  meet  Gen.  McDowell,  who  com 
mands  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  now  so  soon  to 
move.  He  came  in  without  an  aide-de-camp, 
and  on  foot,  from  his  quarters  in  the  city.  He  is 
a  man  about  forty  years  of  age,  square  and  pow 
erfully  built,  but  with  rather  a' stout  and  clumsy 
figure  and  limbs,  a  good  head  covered  with  close- 
cut  thick  dark  hair,  small  light-blue  eyes,  short 
nose,  large  cheeks  and  jaws,  relieved  by  an  iron- 
grey  tuft  somewhat  of  the  French  type,  and 
affecting  in  dress  the  style  of  our  gallant  allies. 
His  manner  is  frank,  simple,  and  agreeable,  and 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  with  great  openness 
of  the  difficulties  he  had  to  contend  with,  and  the 
imperfection  of  all  the  arrangements  of  the  armyr 

As  an  officer  of  the  regular  army  he  has  a 
thorough  contempt  for  what  he  calls  "political 
generals  " — the  men  who  use  their  influence  with 
President  and  Congress  to  obtain  military  rank, 
which  in  time  of  war  places  them  before  the  pub 
lic  in  the  front  of  events,  and  gives  them  an 
appearance  of  leading  in  the  greatest  of  all  politi 
cal  movements.  Nor  is  General  McDowell  ena 
moured  of  volunteers,  for  he  served  in  Mexico,  and 
has  from  what  he  saw  there  formed  rather  an  un 


146 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


favourable  opinion  of  their  capabilities  in  the  field. 
He  is  inclined,  however,  to  hold  the  Southern 
troops  in  too  little  respect ;  and  he  told  me  that 
the  volunteers  from  the  slave  states,  who  entered 
the  field  full  of  exultation  and  boastings,  did  not 
make  good  their  words,  and  that  they  suffered 
-especially  from  sickness  and  disease,  in  conse 
quence  of  their  disorderly  habits  and  dissipation. 
His  regard  for  old  associations  was  evinced  in 
many  questions  he  asked  me  about  Beauregard, 
with  whom  he  had  been  a  student  at  West  Point, 
where  the  Confederate  commander  was  noted  for 
his  studious  and  reserved  habits,  and  his  excel 
lence  in  feats  of  strength  and  athletic  exercises. 

As  proof  of  the  low  standard"  established  in 
his  army,  he  mentioned  that  some  officers  of  con 
siderable  rank  were  more  than  suspected  of  sell 
ing  rations,  and  of  illicit  connections  with,  sutlers 
for  purposes  of  pecuniary  advantage.  The  Gene 
ral  walked  back  with  me  as  far  as  my  lodgings, 
and  I  observed  that  not  one  of  the  many  soldiers 
he  passed  in  the  streets  saluted  him,  though  his 
rank  was  indicated  by  his  velvet  collar  and  cuffs, 
and  a  gold  star  on  the  shoulder  strap. 

Having  written  some  letters,  I  walked  out  with 
Captain  Johnson  and  one  of  the  attaches  of  the 
British  Legation,  to  the  lawn  at  the  back  of  the 
"White  House,  and  listened  to  the  excellent  band 
of  the  United  States  Marines,  playing  on  a  kind 
of  dais  under  the  large  flag  recently  hoisted  by 
the  President  himself,  in  the  garden.  The  occa 
sion  was  marked  by  rather  an  ominous  event. 
As  the  President  pulled  the  halyards  and  the  flag 
floated  aloft,  a  branch  of  a  tree  caught  the  bunt 
ing  and  tore  it,  so  that  a  number  of  the  stars  and 
stripes  were  detached  and  hung  dangling  beneath 
the  rest  of  the  flag,  half  detached  from  the 
staff. 

I  dined  at  Captain  Johnson's  lodgings  next 
door  to  mine.  Beneath  us  was  a  wine  and  spirit 
store,  and  crowds  of  officers  and  men  flocked 
indiscriminately  to  make  their  purchases,  with  a 
good  deal  of  tumult,  which  increased  as  the  night 
came  on.  Later  still,  there  was  a  great  disturb 
ance  in  the  city.  A  body  of  New  York  Zouaves 
wrecked  some  houses  of  bad  repute,  in  one  of 
which  a  private  of  the  regiment  was  murdered 
early  this  morning.  The  cavalry  patrols  were 
called  out  and  charged  the  rioters,  who  were  dis 
persed  with  difficulty  after  resistance  in  which 
men  on  both  sides  were  wounded.  There  is  no 
police,  no  provost  guard.  Soldiers  wander  about 
the  streets,  and  beg  in  the  fashion  of  the  mendi 
cant  in  "  Gil  Bias  "  for  money  to  get  whiskey. 
My  coloured  gentleman  has  been  led  away  by  the 
Saturnalia  and  has  taken  to  gambling  in  the 
camps,  which  are  surrounded  by  hordes  of  rascal 
ly  followers  and  sutlers'  servants,  and  I  find  my 
self  on  the  eve  of  a  campaign,  without  servant, 
horse,  equipment,  or  means  of  transport. 

July  1th. — Mr.  Bigelow  invited  me  to  breakfast, 
to  meet  Mr.  Senator  King,  .  Mr.  Olmsted,  Mr. 
Thurlow  Weed,  a  Senator  from  Missouri,  a  West 
Point  professor,  and  others.  It  was  indicative  of 
the  serious  difficulties  which  embarrass  the  action 
of  the  Government  to  hear  Mr.  Wilsori,  the 
Chairman  of  the  Military  Committee  of  the 
Senate,  inveigh  against  the  officers  of  the  regular 
army,  and  attack  West  Point  itself.  Whilst  the 
New  York  papers  were  lauding  Gen.  Scott  and 
his  plans  to  the  skies,  the  Washington  politicians 
were  speaking  of  him  as  obstructive,  obstinate, 


and  prejudiced — unfit  for  the  times  and  the  occa 
sion. 

General  Scott  refused  to  accept  cavalry  and 
artillery  at  the  beginning  of  the  levy,  and  said 
that  they  were  not  required ;  now  he  was  calling 
for  both  arms  most  urgently.  The  officers  of  the 
regular  army  had  followed  suit.  Although  they 
were  urgently  pressed  by  the  politicians  to  occupy 
Harper's  Ferry  and  Manassas,  they  refused  to  do 
either,  and  the  result  is  that  the  enemy  have 
obtained  invaluable  supplies  from  the  first  place, 
and  are  now  assembled  in  force  in  a  most  formi 
dable  position  at  the  second.  Everything  as  yet 
accomplished  has  been  done  by  political  generals 
— not  by  the  officers  of  the  regular  army.  Butler 
and  Banks  saved  Baltimore  in  spite  of  General 
Scott.  There  was  an  attempt  made  to  cry  up 
Lyon  in  Missouri ;  but  in  fact  it  was  Frank  Blair, 
the  brother  of  the  Postmaster-General,  who  had 
been  the  soul  and  body  of  all  the  actions  in  that 
State.  The  first  step  taken  by  McClellan  in 
Western  Virginia  was  atrocious — he  talked  of 
slaves  in  a  public  document  as  property.  Butler, 
at  Monroe,  had  dealt  with  them  in  a  very  differ 
ent  spirit,  and  had  used  them  for  State  purposes 
under  the  name  of  contraband.  One  man  alone 
displayed  powers  of  administrative  ability,  and 
that  was  Quartermaster  Meigs ;  and  unquestion 
ably  from  all  I  heard,  the  praise  was  well  bestow 
ed'  It  is  plain  enough  that  the  political  leaders 
fear  the  consequences  of  delay,  and  that  they  are 
urging  the  military  authorities  to  action,  which 
the  latter  have  too  much  professional  knowledge 
to  take  with  their  present  means.  These  Northern 
men  know  nothing  of  the  South,  and  with  them 
it  is  omne  ignotum  pro  minima.  The  West  Point 
professor  listened  to  them  with  a  quiet  smile,  and 
exchanged  glances  with  me  now  and  then,  as 
much  as  to  say,  "  Did  you  ever  hear  such  fools  in 
youi  life  ?" 

But  the  conviction  of  ultimate  success  is  not 
less  strong  here  than  it  is  in  the  South.  The  dif 
ference  between  these  gentlemen  and  the  South 
erners  is,  that  in  the  South  the  leaders  of  the 
people,  soldiers  and  civilians,  are  all  actually 
under  arms,  and  are  ready  to  make  good  their 
words  by  exposing  their  bodies  in  battle. 

I  walked  home  with  Mr.  N.  P.  Willis,  who  is 
at  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  writing  sketches 
to  the  little  family  journal  of  which  he  is  editor, 
and  giving  war  "  anecdotes;"  and  with  Mr.  Olm 
sted,  who  is  acting  as  a  member  of  the  New  York 
Sanitary  Commission,  here  authorised  by  the  Go 
vernment  to  take  measures  against  the  reign  of 
dirt  and  disease  in  the  Federal  camp.  The  Re 
publicans  are  very  much  afraid  that  there  is,  even 
at  the  present  moment,  a  conspiracy  against  the 
Union  in  Washington — nay,  in  Congress  itself; 
and  regard  Mr.  Breckenridge,  Mr.  Bayard,  Mr. 
Vallandigham,  and  others  as  most  dangerous  ene 
mies,  who  should  not  be  permitted  to  remain  in 
the  capital  I  attended  the  Episcopal  church  and 
heard  a  very  excellent  discourse,  free  from  any 
political  allusion.  The  service  differs  little  from 
our  own,  except  that  certain  euphemisms  are 
introduced  in  the  Litany  and  elsewhere,  and  the 
prayers  for  Queen  and  Parliament  are  offered  up 
nomine  mutaio  for  President  and  Congress. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


147 


CHAPTER  XLYI. 

Arlington  Heights  and  the  Potomac— Washington— The 
Federal  camp— General  M'Dowell— Flying  rumours- 
Newspaper  ca/respondents— General  Fremont-— Silenc 
ing  tho  Press  and  Telegraph— A  Loan  Bill— Interview 
with  Mr.  Cameron— Newspaper  criticism  on  Lord  Ly 
ons—Rumours  about  M'Oiellan—  The  Northern  army 
as  reported  and  as  it  is— General  M'Clellan. 
July  8th. — I  hired  a  horse  at  a  livery  stable, 
and  rode  out  to  Arlington  Heights,  at  the  other 
side  of  the  Potomac,  where  the  Federal  army  is 
encamped,  if  not  on  the  sacred  soil  of  Virginia, 
certainly  on  the  soil  of  the  district  of  Columbia, 
ceded  by  that  State  to  Congress  for  the  purposes 
of  tfce  Federal  Government.     The  Long  Bridge 
which  spans  the  river,  here  more  than  a  mile 
broad,  is  an  ancient  wooden  and  brick  structure, 
partly  of  causeway,  and  partly  of  platform,  laid 
on  piles  and  uprights,  with  drawbridges  for  vessels 
to  pass.     The  Potomac,  which  in  peaceful  times 
is  covered  with  small  craft,  now  glides  in  a  gentle 
current  over  the  shallows  unbroken  by  a  solitary 
sail.     The  "rebels"  have  established   batteries 
below  Alount  Vernon,  which  partially  command 
the  river,  and  place  the  city  in  a  state  of  block 
ade. 

As  a  consequence  of  the  magnificent  conceptions 
which  were  entertained  by  the  founders  regarding 
the  future  dimensions  of  their  future  city,  Wash 
ington  is  all  suburb  and  no  city.  The  only  differ 
ence  between  the  denser  streets  and  the  remoter 
village-like  environs,  is  that  the  houses  are  better 
and  more  frequent,  and  the  roads  not  quite  so  bad 
in  the  former.  The  road  to  the  Long  Bridge 
passes  by  a  four-sided  shaft  of  blocks  of  white 
marble,  contributed,  with  appropriate  mottoes,  by 
the  various  States,  as  a  fitting  monument  to  Wash 
ington.  It  is  not  yet  completed,  and  the  materials 
lie  in  the  field  around,  just  as  the  Capitol  and  the 
Treasury  are  surrounded  by  the  materials  for  their 
future  and  final  development.  Further  on,  is  the 
red,  and  rather  fantastic,  pile  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institute,  and  then  the  road  makes  a  dip  to  the 
bridge,  past  some  squalid  little  cottages,  and  the 
eye  reposes  on  the  shore  of  Virginia,  rising  in  suc 
cessive  folds,  and  richly  wooded,  up  to  a  moderate 
height  from  the  water.  Through  the  green  forest 
leaves  gleams  the  white  canvas  of  the  tents,  and 
on  the  highest  ridge  westward  rises  an  imposing 
structure,  with  a  portico  and  colonnade  in  front, 
facing  the  river,  which  is  called  Arlington  House, 
and  belongs  by  descent,  through  Mr.  Custis,  from 
the  wife  of  George  Washington,  to  General  Lee, 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Confederate  army.  It 
is  now  occupied  by  General  M'Dowell  as  his 
head-quarters,  and  a  large  United  States  flag 
floats  from  the  roof,  which  shames  even  the  ample 
proportions  of  the  many  stars  and  stripes  rising 
up  from  the  camps  in  the  trees. 

At  the  bridge  there  was  a  post  of  volunteer 
soldiers.  The  sentry  on  duty  was  sitting  on  a 
stump,  with  his  firelock  across  his  knees,  reading 
a  newspaper.  He  held  out  his  hand  for  my  pass, 
which  was  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  written  by  Ge 
neral  Scott,  and  ordering  all  officers  and  soldiers 
of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  to  permit  me  to  pass 
freely  without  let  or  hindrance,  and  recommend 
ing  me  to  the  attention  of  Brigadier-General 
M'Dowell  and  all  offieers'under  his  orders.  "  That'll 
do,  you  may  go,"  said  the  sentry.  "  What  pass 
is  that,  Abe?"  .nquired  a  non-commissioned  offi 
cer.  "It's  from  General  Scotl,  and  says  he's  to 
go  wherever  he  : kee  '  "I  hope  you'll  go  right 


away  to  Richmond,  then,  and  get  Jeff  Davis' s 
scalp  for  us,"  said  the  patriotic  sergeant. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  bridge  a  weak  tele  de 
pont,  commanded  by  a  road-work  further  on,  co 
vered  the  approach,  and  turning  to  the  right  I 
passed  through  a  maze  of  camps,  in  front  of  which 
the  various  regiments,  much  better  than  I  had 
expected  to  find  them,  broken  up  into  small  de 
tachments,  were  learning  elementary  drill.  A 
considerable  number  of  the  men  were  Germans, 
and  the  officers  wrere  for  the  most  part  in  a  state 
of  profound  ignorance  of  company  drill,  as  might 
be  seen  by  their  confusion  and  inability  to  take 
their  places  when  the  companies  faced  about,  or 
moved  from  one  flank  to  the  other.  They  were 
by  no  means  equal  in  size  or  age,  and,  with  some 
splendid  exceptions,  were  inferior  to  the  Southern 
soldiers.  The  camps  were  dirty,  no  latrines — the 
tents  of  various  patterns — but  on  the  whole  they 
were  well  castrametated. 

The  road  to  Arlington  House  passed  through 
some  of  the  finest  woods  I  have  yet  seen  in 
America,  but  the  axe  was  already  busy  amongst 
them,  and  the  trunks  of  giant  oaks  were  pros 
trate  on  the  ground.  The  tents  of  the  General 
and  his  small  staff  were  pitched  on  the  little  pla 
teau  in  which  stood  the  house,  and  from  it  a  very 
striking  and  picturesque  view  of  the  city,  with  the 
White  House,  the  Treasury,  the  Post  Office.  Patent 
Office,  and  Capitol,  was  visible,  and  a  wide  spread 
of  country,  studded  with  tents  also  as  far  as  tho 
eye  could  reach,  towards  Maryland.  There  were 
only  four  small  tents  for  the  whole  of  the  head 
quarters  of  the  grand  army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
in  front  of  one  we  found  General  M'Dowell, 
seated  in  a  chair,  examining  some  plans  and  maps. 
His  personal  staff,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  con 
sisted  of  Mr.  Clarence  Brown,  who  came  over 
with  me,  and  three  other  officers,  but  there  were 
a  few  connected  with  the  departments  at  work 
in  the  rooms  of  Arlington  House.  I  made  some 
remark  on  the  subject  to  the  General,  who  replied 
that  there  was  great  jealousy  on  the  part  of  the 
civilians  respecting  the  least  appearance  of  dis 
play,  and  that  as  he  was  only  a  brigadier,  though 
he  was  in  command  of  such  a  large  army,  he  was 
obliged  to  be  content  with  a  brigadier's  staff. 
Two  untidy-looking  orderlies,  with  ill-groomed 
horses,  near  the  house,  were  poor  substitutes  for 
the  force  of  troopers  one  would  see  in  attendance 
on  a  general  in  Europe,  but  the  use  of  the  tele 
graph  obviates  the  necessity  of  employing  couri 
ers.  I  went  over  some  of  the  camps  with  the 
General.  The  artillery  is  the  most  efficient- look 
ing  arm  of  the  service,  but  the  horses  are  too 
light,  and  the  number  of  the  different  calibres 
quite  destructive  to  continuous  efficiency  in  ac 
tion;  Altogether  I  was  not  favourably  impressed 
with  what  I  saw,  for  I  had  been  led  by  reiterated 
statements  to  believe  to  some  extent  the  extra 
vagant  stories  of  the  papers,  and  expected  to  find 
upwards  of  100,000  men  in  the  highest  state  of 
efficiency,  whereas  there  were  not  more  than  a 
third  of  the  number,  and  those  in  a  very  incom 
plete,  ill- disciplined  state.  Some  of  these  regi 
ments  were  called  out  under  the  President's  pro 
clamation  for  three  months  only,  and  will  soon 
have  served  their  full  time,  and  as  it  is  very  likely 
they  will  go  home,  now  the  bubbles  of  national 
enthusiasm  have  all  escaped,  General  Scott  is 
urged  not  to  lose  their  services,  but  to  get  into 
Richmond  before  they  are  disbanded. 


H8 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


It  would  scarcely  be  credited,  were  I  not  told 
it  by  General  M'Dowell,  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  procurable  as  a  decent  map  of  Virginia. 
He  knows  little  or  nothing  of  the  country  before 
him,  more  than  the  general  direction  of  the  main 
roads,  which  are  bad  at  .,the  best ;  and  he  can 
obtain  no  information,  inasmuch  as  the  enemy  are 
in  full  force  all  along  his  front,  and  he  has  not  a 
cavalry  officer  capable  of  conducting  a  reconnais 
sance,  Tfhich  would  be  difficult  enough  in  the 
best  hands,  owing  to  the  dense  woods  which  rise 
up  in  front  of  his  lines,  screening  the  enemy 
completely.  The  Confederates  have  thrown  up 
very  heavy  batteries  at  Manassas,  about  thirty 
miles  away,  where  the  railway  from  the  West 
crosses  the  line  to  Richmond,  and  1  do  not  think 
General  M'Dowell  much  likes  the  look  of  them, 
but  the  cry  for  action  is  so  strong  the  President 
cannot  resist  it. 

On  my  way  back  I  rode  through  the  woods  of 
Arlington,  and  cafne  out  on  a  quadrangular 
earthwork,  called  Fort  Corcoran,  which  is  garri 
soned  by  the  69th  Irish,  and  commands  the  road 
leading  to  an  aqueduct  and  horse-bridge  over  the 
Potomac.  The  regiment  is  encamped  inside  the 
fort,  which  would  be  a  slaughter-pen  if  exposed 
to  shell-fire.  The  streets  were  neat,  the  tents 
protected  from  the  sun  by  shades  of  evergreens 
and  pine  boughs.  One  little  door,  like  that  of  an 
icehouse,  half  buried  in  the  ground,  was  opened 
by  one  of  the  soldiers,  who  was  showing  it  to  a 
friend,  when  my  attention  was  more  particularly 
attracted  by  a  sergeant  who  ran  forward  in  great 
dudgeon,  exclaiming  "  Dempsey  I  Is  that  you 
going  into  the  '  magazine'  wid  yer  pipe  lighted  ?" 
I  rode  away  with  alacrity. 

In  the  course  of  my  ride  I  heard  occasional 
dropping  shots  in  the  camp.  To  my  looks  of 
inquiry,  an  engineer  officer  said  quietly,  "  They 
are  volunteers  shooting  themselves."  The  num 
ber  of  accidents  from  the  carelessness  of  the  men 
is  astonishing ;  in  every  day's  paper  there  is  an 
account  of  deaths  and  wounds  caused  by  the 
discharge  of  firearms  in  the  tents. 

Whilst  I  was  at  Arlington  House,  walking 
through  the  camp  attached  to  head-quarters,  I 
observed  a  tall  red-bearded  officer  seated  on  a 
chair  in  front  of  one  of  the  tents,  who  bowed  as 
I  passed  him,  and  as  I  turned  to  salute  him,  my 
eye  was  caught  by  the  apparition  of  a  row  of 
Palmetto  buttons  down  his  coat.  One  of  the 
officers  standing  by  said,  "  Let  me  introduce  you 
to  Captain  Taylor,  from  the  other  side."  It 
appears  that  he  came  in  with  a  flag  of  truce, 
bearing  a  despatch  from  Jefferson  Davis  to  Presi 
dent  Lincoln,  countersigned  by  General  Beaure- 
gard  at  Manassas.  Just  as  I  left  Arlington,  a 
telegraph  was  sent  from  General  Scott  to  send 
Captain  Taylor,  who  rejoices  in  the  name  of  Tom, 
over  to  his  quarters. 

The  most  absurd  rumours  were  flying  about 
the  staff,  one  of  whom  declared  very  positively 
that  there  was  going  to  be  a  compromise,  and 
that  Jeff.  Davis  had  made  an  overture  for  peace. 
The  papers  are  filled  with  accounts  of  an  action 
in  Missouri,  at  a  place  called  Carthage,  between 
Uie  Federals  commanded  by  Colonel  Sigel,  con 
sisting  for  the  most  part  of  Germans,  and  the 
Confederates  under  General  Parsons,  in  which 
the  former  were  obliged  to  retreat,  although 
it  is  admitted  the  State  troops  were  miserably 
armed,  and  had  most  ineffective  artillery,  whilst 


their  opponents  had  every  advantage  in  bott 
respects,  and  were  commanded  by  officers  of 
European  experience.  Captain  Taylor  alluded  to 
the  news  in  a  jocular  way  to  me,  and  said,  "  I 
hope  you  will  tell  the  people  in  England  we 
intend  to  whip  the  Liucolnites  in  the  same 
fashion  wherever  we  meet  them,"  a  remark  which 
did  not  lead  me  to  believe  there  was  any  inten 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  Confederates  to  surrender 
so  easily. 

July  9th. — Late  last  night  the  President  told 
General  Scott  to  send  Captain  Taylor  back  to  the 
Confederate  lines,  and  he  was  accordingly  escort 
ed  to  Arlington  in  a  carriage,  and  thence  returned 
without  any  answer  to  Mr.  Davis's  letter,  the 
nature  of  which  has  not  transpired. 

A  swarm  of  newspaper  correspondents  has 
settled  down  upon  Washington,  and  great  are  the 
glorifications  of  the  high-toned  paymasters,  gal 
lant  doctors,  and  subalterns  accomplished  in  the 
art  of  war,  who  furnish  minute  items  to  my 
American  brethren,  and  provide  the  yeast  which 
overflows  in  many  columns ;  but  the  Government 
experience  the  inconvenience  of  the  smallest 
movements  being  chronicled  for  the  use  of  the 
enemy,  who,  by  putting  one  thing  and  another 
together,  are  no  doubt  enabled  to  collect  much 
valuable  information.  Every  preparation  is  being 
made  to  put  the  army  on  a  war  footing,  to  provide 
them  with  shoes,  ammunition  waggons,  and 
horses. 

f  had  the  honour  of  dining  with  General  Scott, 
who  has  moved  to  new  quarters,  near  the  War 
Department,  and  met  General  Fremont,  who  is 
designated,  according  to  rumour,  to  take  com 
mand  of  an  important  district  in  the  West,  and 
to  clear  the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi  and  the 
course  of  the  Missouri.  "  The  pathfinder"  is  a 
strong  Republican  and  Abolitionist,  whom  the 
Germans  delight  to  honour — a  man  with  a  dreamy, 
deep  blue  eye,  a  gentlemanly  address,  pleasant 
features,  and  an  active  frame,  but  without  the 
smallest  external  indication  of  extraordinary 
vigour,  intelligence,  or  ability ;  if  he  has  military 
genius,  it  must  come  by  intuition,  for  assuredly 
he  has  no  professional  acquirements  or  experience. 
Two  or  three  members  of  Congress,  and  the 
General's  staff,  and  Mr.  Bigelow,  completed  the 
company.  The  General  has  become  visibly 
weaker  since  I  first  saw  him.  He  walks  down 
to  his  office,  close  at  hand,  with  difficulty ;  returns 
a  short  time  before  dinner,  and  reposes ;  and 
when  he  has  dismissed  his  guests  at  an  early 
hour,  or  even  before  he  does  so,  stretches  him 
self  on  his  bed,  and  then  before  midnight  rouses 
himself  to  look  at  despatches  or  to  transact  any 
necessary  business.  In  case  of  an  action  it  is 
his  intention  to  proceed  to  the  field  in  a  light 
carriage,  which  is  always  ready  for  the  purpose, 
with  horses  and  driver;  nor  is  he  unprepared 
with  precedents  of  great  military  commanders 
who  have  successfully  conducted  engagements 
under  similar  circumstances. 

Although  the  discussion  of  military  questions 
and  of  politics  was  eschewed,  incidental  allusions 
were  made  to  matters  going  on  around  us,  and  I 
thought  I  could  perceive  that  the  General  re 
garded  the  situation  with  much  more  apprehen 
sion  than  the  politicians,  and  that  his  influence 
extended  itself  to  the  views  of  his  staff.  General 
Fremont's  tone  was  much  more  confident.  No 
thing  has  become  known  respecting  the  nature 


MT  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


149 


of  Mr.  Davis's  communication  to  President  Lin 
coln,  but  the  fact  of  his  sending  it  at  all  is  looked 
upon  as  a  piece  of  monstrous  impertinence.  The 
General  is  annoyed  and  distressed  by  the  plun 
dering  propensities  of  the  Federal  troops,  who 
have  been  committing  terrible  depredations  on 
the  people  of  Virginia.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed, 
however,  that  the  Germans,  who  have  entered 
upon  this  campaign  as  mercenaries,  will  desist 
from  so  profitable  and  interesting  a  pursuit  as  the 
detection  of  Secesli  sentiments,  chickens,  watches, 
horses,  and  dollars.  I  mentioned  that  I  had  seen 
some  farm-houses  completely  sacked  close  to  the 
aqueduct.  The  General  merely  said,  "  It  is  de 
plorable!"  and  raised  up  his  hands  as  if  in  dis 
gust.  General  Fremont,  however,  said,  "I  suppose 
you  are  familiar  with  similar  scenes  in  Europe. 
I  hear  the  allies  were  not  very  particular  with 
respect  to  private  property  in  Russia" — a  remark 
which  unfortunately  could  not  be  gainsaid.  As 
I  was  leaving  the  General's  quarters,  Mr.  Blair, 
accompanied  by  the  President,  who  was  looking 
more  anxious  than  I  had  yet  seen  him,  drove 
up,  and  passed  through  a  crowd  of  soldiers,  who 
had  evidently  been  enjoying  themselves.  One 
of  them  called  out,  "  Three  cheers  for  General 
Scott!"  and  I  am  not  quite  sure  the  President  did 
not  join  him. 

July  IQth. — To-day  was  spent  in  a  lengthy  ex 
cursion  along  the  front  of  the  camp  in  Virginia, 
round  by  the  chain  bridge  which  crosses  the  Po 
tomac  about  four  miles  from  Washington. 

The  Government  have  been  coerced,  as  they 
say,  by  the  safety  of  the  Republic,  to  destroy  the 
liberty  of  the  press,  which  is  guaranteed  by  the 
Constitution,  and  this  is  not  the  first  instance  in 
which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  will 
be  made  nominis  umbra.  The  telegraph,  accord 
ing  to  General  Scott's  order,  confirmed  by  the 
Minister  of  War,  Simon  Cameron,  is  to  convey  no 
despatches  respecting  military  movements  not 
permitted  by  the  General ;  and  to-day  the  news 
paper  correspondents  have  agreed  to  yield  obe 
dience  to  the  order,  reserving  to  themselves  a 
certain  freedom  of  detail  in  writing  their  de 
spatches,  and  relying  on  the  Government  to  pub 
lish  the  official  accounts  of  all  battles  very 
speedily.  They  will  break  this  agreement  if  they 
can,  and  the  Government  will  not  observe  their 
part  of  the  bargain.  The  freedom  of  the  press, 
as  I  take  it,  does  not  include  the  right  to  publish 
news  hostile  to  the  cause  of  the  country  in  which 
it  is  published ;  neither  can  it  involve  any  obliga 
tion  on  the  part  of  Government  to  publish  any 
despatches  which  may  be  injurious  to  the  party 
they  represent.  There  is  a  wide  distinction 
between  the  publication  of  news  which  is  known 
to  the  enemy  as  soon  as  to  the  friends  of  the 
transmitters,  and  the  utmost  freedom  of  expres 
sion  concerning  the  acts  of  the  Government  or 
the  conduct  of  past  events ;  but  it  will  be  diffi 
cult  to  establish  any  rule  to  limit  or  extend  the 
boundaries  to  which  discussion  can  go  without 
mischief,  and  in  effect  the  only  solution  of  the 
difficulty  in  a  free  country  seems  to  be  to  grant 
the  press  free  licence,  in  consideration  of  the 
enormous  aid  it  affords  in  warning  the  people  of 
their  danger,  in  animating  them  with  the  news 
of  their  successes,  and  in  sustaining  the  Govern 
ment  in  their  efforts  to  conduct  the  war. 

The  most  important  event  to-day  is  the  passage 
of  the  Loan  Bill,  which  authorises  Mr.  Chase  to 


borrow,  in  the  next  year,  a  sum  of  £50,000,000, 
on  coupons,  with  interest  at  7  per  cent,  and  irre 
deemable  for  twenty  years — the  interest  being 
guaranteed  on  a  pledge  of  the  Customs  duties.  I 
just  got  into  the  House  in  time  to  hear  Mr.  Val- 
landigham,  who  is  an  ultra-democrat,  and  very 
nearly  a  secessionist,  conclude  a  well- delivered 
argumentative  address.  He  is  a  tall,  slight  man, 
of  a  bilious  temperament,  with  light  flashing 
eyes,  dark  hair  and  complexion,  and  considerable 
oratorical  power.  "  Deem  me  ef  I  wouldn't  just 
ride  that  Vallandiggaim  on  a  reay-al, "  quoth  a 
citizen  to  his  friend,  as  the  speaker  sat  down, 
amid  a  few  feeble  expressions  of  assent.  Mr. 
Chase  has  also  obtained  the  consent  of  the  Lower 
House  to  his  bill  for  closing  the  Southern  ports 
by  the  decree  of  the  President,  but  I  hear  some 
more  substantial  measures  are  in  contemplation 
for  that  purpose.  Whilst  the  House  is  finding 
the  money  the  Government  are  preparing  to 
spend  it,  and  they  have  obtained  the  approval  of 
the  Senate  to  the  enrolment  of  half  a  million  of 
men,  and  the  expenditure  of  one  hundred  mil 
lions  of  dollars  to  carry  on  the  war. 

I  called  on  Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary  of 
War.  The  small  brick  house  of  two  stories,  with 
long  passages,  in  which  the  American  Mars  pre 
pares  his  bolts,  was,  no  doubt,  large  enough  for 
the  20,000  men  who  constituted  the  armed  force 
on  land  of  the  great  Republic,  but  it  is  not  suf 
ficient  to  contain  a  tithe  of  the  contractors  who 
haunt  its  precincts,  fill  all  the  lobbies  and  crowd 
into  every  room.  With  some  risk  to  coat-tails,  I 
squeezed  through  iron-masters,  gun-makers,  clo 
thiers,  shoemakers,  inventors,  bakers,  and  all  that 
genus  which  fattens  on  the  desolation  caused  by  an 
army  in  the  field,  and  was  introduced  to  Mr. 
Cameron's  room,  where  he  was  seated  at  a  desk 
surrounded  by  people,  who  were  also  grouped 
round  two  gentlemen  as  clerks  in  the  small  room. 
"I  tell  you,  General  Cameron,  that  the  way  in 
which  the  loyal  men  of  Missouri  have  been  treat 
ed  is  a  disgrace  to  this  Government,"  shouted  out 
a  big,  black,  burly  man — "  I  tell  you  so,  sir." 
"  Well,  General,"  responded  Mr.  Cameron,  quiet 
ly,  "  so  you  have  several  times.  Will  you,  once 
for  all,  condescend  to  particulars?"  "Yes,  sir; 
you  and  the  Government  have  disregarded  our 
appeals.  You  have  left  us  to  fight  our  own  bat 
tles.  You  have  not  sent  us  a  cent "  "There, 

General,  I  interrupt  you.  You  say  we  have  sent 
you  no  money,"  said  Mr.  Cameron,  very  quietly. 
"Mr.  Jones  will  be  good  enough  to  ask  Mr. 
Smith  to  step  in  here."  Before  Mr.  Smith  came 
in,  however,  the  General,  possibly  thinking  some 
member  of  the  press  was  present,  rolled  his  eyes 
in  a  Nicotian  frenzy,  and  perorated :  "  The  people 
of  the  State  of  Missouri,  sir,  will  power-out  every 
drop  of  the  blood  which  only  flows  to  warm  pa 
triotic  hearts  in  defence  of  the  great  Union,  which 
offers  freedom  to  the  enslaved  of  mankind,  and  a 
home  to  persecuted  progress,  and  a  few-ture  to 
civil-zation.  We  demand,  General  Cameron,  in 

the  neame  of  the  great  Western  State "   Here 

Mr.  Smith  came  in,  and  Mr.  Cameron  said,  "I 
want  you  to  tell  me  what  disbursements,  if  any, 
have  been  sent  by  this  department  to  the  State 
of  Missouri."  Mr.  Smith  was  quick  at  figures, 
and  up  in  his  accounts,  for  he  drew  out  a  little 
memorandum  book,  and  replied  (of  course,  I  can't 
tell  the  exact  sum),  "General,  there  has  been 
sent,  as  by  vouchers,  to  Missouri  since  the  begin- 


150 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


rung  of  the  levies,  six  hundred  and  seventy 
thousand  dollars  and  twenty-three  cents."  The 
General  looked  crest-fallen,  but  he  was  equal  to 
the  occasion.  '  "  These  sums  may  have  been  sent, 
sir,  but  they  have  not  been  received.  I  declare 

in  the  face  of "     "Mr.  Smith  will  show  you 

the  vouchers,  General,  and  you  can  then  take  any 
steps  needful  against  the  parties  who  have  mis 
appropriated  them." 

''That  is  only  a  small  specimen  of  what  we 
have  to  go  through  with  our  people,"  said  the 
Minister,  as  the  General  went  off  with  a  lofty  toss 
of  his  head,  and  then  gave  me  a  pleasant  sketch 
of  the  nature  of  the  applications  and  interviews 
which  take  up  the  time  and  clog  the  movements 
of  an  American  statesman.  "  These  State  organi 
sations  give  us  a  great  deal  of  trouble."  I  could 
fully  understand  that  they  did  so.  The  immedi 
ate  business  that  I  had  with  Mr.  Cameron — he  is 
rarely  called  General  now  that  he  is  Minister  of 
War — was  to  ask  him  to  give  me  authority  to 
draw  rations  at  cost  price,  in  case  the  army  took 
the  field  before  I  could  make  arrangements,  and 
he  seemed  very  well  disposed  to  accede  ;  "  but  I 
must  think  about  it,  for  I  shall  have  all  our  pa 
pers  down  upon  me  if  I  grant  you  any  facility 
which  they  do  not  get  themselves."  After  I  left 
the  War  Department,  I  took  a  walk  to  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's,  who  was  out.  In  passing  by  President's 
Square,  I  saw  a  respectably-dressed  man  up  in 
one  of  the  trees,  cutting  off  pieces  of  the  bark, 
which  his  friends  beneath  caught  up  eagerly.  I 
could  not  help  stopping  to  ask  what  was  the  ob 
ject  of  the  proceeding.  "Why,  sir,  this  is  the 

tree  Dan  Sickles  shot  Mr. under.     I  think 

it's  quite  a  remarkable  spot." 

July  llth. — The  diplomatic  circle  is  so  totus 
teres  atque  rotundits,  that  few  particles  of  dirt  stick 
on  its  periphery  from  the  road  over  which  it  tra 
vels.  The  radii  are  worked  from  different  centres, 
often  far  apart,  and  the  tires  and  naves  often  fly 
out  in  wide  divergence;  but  for  all  social  purposes 
it  is  a  circle,  and  a  very  pleasant  one.  When  one 
sees  M.  de  Stoeckel  speaking  to  M.  Mercier,  or 
joining  in  with  Baron  Gerolt  and  M.  de  Lisboa,  it 
is  safer  to  infer  that  a  little  social  re-union  is  at 
hand  for  a  pleasant  civilised  discussion  of  ordina 
ry  topics,  some  music,  a  rubber,  and  a  dinner, 
than  to  resolve  with  the  New  York  Correspondent, 
"  that  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  diplomatic 
movement  of  no  ordinary  significance  is  on  foot, 
and  that  the  ministers  of  Russia,  France,  and 
Prussia  have  concerted  a  plan  of  action  with  the 
representative  of  Brazil,  which  must  lead  to  ex 
traordinary  complications,  in  view  of  the  tempo 
rary  embarrassments  which  distract  our  beloved 
country.  The  Minister  of  England  has  held  aloof 
from  these  reunions  for  a  sinister  purpose  no 
doubt,  and  we  have  not  failed  to  discover  that  the 
emissary  of  Austria,  and  the  representative  of 
Guatemala,  have  abstained  from  taking  part  in 
these  significant  demonstrations.  We  tell  the 
haughty  nobleman  who  represents  Queen  Victo 
ria,  on  whose  son  we  so  lately  lavished  the  most 
liberal  manifestations  of  our  good  will,  to  beware. 
The  motives  of  the  Court  of  Vienna,  and  of  the 
republic  of  Guatemala,  in  ordering  their  repre 
sentatives  not  to  join  in  the  reunion  which  we 
observed  at  three  o'clock  to-day,  at  the  corner  of 
Seventeenth  Street  and  One,  are  perfectly  trans 
parent  ;  but  we  call  on  Mr.  Seward  instantly  to 
demand  of  Lord  Lyons  a  full  and  ample  explana 


tion  of  his  conduct  on  the  occasion,  or  the  trans 
mission  of  his  papers.  There  is  no  harm  in  add 
ing,  that  we  have  every  reason  to  think  our  good 
ally  of  Russia,  and  the  minister  of  the  astute  mo 
narch,  who  is  only  watching  an  opportunity  of 
leading  a  Franco-American  army  to  the  Tower 
of  London  and  Dublin  Castle,  have  already  moved 
their  respective  Governments  to  act  in  the  premi 
ses." 

That  paragraph,  with  a  good  heading,  would 
sell  several  thousands  of  the  "New  York  Stab- 
ber"  to-morrow. 

July  12th. — There  are  rumours  that  the  Fede 
rals,  under  Brigadier  M'Clellan,  who  have  ad 
vanced  into  Western  Virginia,  have  gained  some 
successes ;  but  so  far  it  seems  to  have  no  larger 
dimensions  than  the  onward  raid  of  one  clan 
against  another  in  the  Highlands.  And  whence 
do  rumours  come?  From  Government  depart 
ments,  which,  like  so  many  Danaes  in  the  clerks' 
rooms,  receive  the  visits  of  the  auriferous  Jupi- 
ters  of  the  press,  who  condense  themselves  into 
purveyors  of  smashes,  slings,  baskets  of  cham 
pagne,  and  dinners.  M'Clellan  is,  however,  con 
sidered  a  very  steady  and  respectable  professional 
soldier.  A  friend  of  his  told  me  to-day  one  of  the 
most  serious  complaints  the  Central  Illinois  Com 
pany  had  against  him  was  that,  during  the  Italian 
war,  he  seemed  to  forget  their  business ;  and  that 
he  was  busied  with  maps  stretched  out  on  the 
floor,  whereupon  he,  superincumbent,  penned  out 
the  points  of  battle  and  strategy  when  he  ought 
to  have  been  attending  to  passenger  trains  and 
traffic.  That  which  was  flat  blasphemy  in  a  rail 
way  office  may  be  amazingly  approved  in  the 
field. 

July  13th. — T  have  had  a  long  day's  ride 
through  the  camps  of  the  various  regiments 
across  the  Potomac,  and  at  this  side  of  it,  which 
the  weather  did  not  render  very  agreeable  to  my 
self  or  the  poor  hack  that  I  had  hired  for  the  day, 
till  my  American  Quatermaine  gets  me  a  decent 
mount.  I  wished  to  see  with  my  own  eyes  what 
is  the  real  condition  of  the  army  which  the  North 
have  sent  down  to  the  Potomac,  to  undertake 
such  a  vast  task  as  the  conquest  of  the  South. 
The  Northern  papers  describe  it  as  a  magnificent 
force,  complete  in  all  respects,  well-disciplined, 
well-clad,  provided  with  fine  artillery,  and  with 
every  requirement  to  make  it  effective  for  all  mili 
tary  operations  in  the  field. 

In  one  word,  then,  they  are  grossly  and  utterly 
ignorant  of  what  an  army  is  or  should  be.  In 
the  first  place,  there  are  not,  I  should  think, 
30,000  men  of  all  sorts  available  for  the  campaign. 
The  papers  estimate,  it  at  any  number  from  50,000 
to  100,000,  giving  the  preference  to  75,000.  In 
the  next  place,  their  artillery  is  miserably  defi 
cient  ;  they  have  not,  I  should  think,  more  than 
five  complete  batteries,  or  six  batteries,  including 
scratch  guns,  and  these  are  of  different  calibres, 
badly  horsed,  miserably  equipped,  and  provided 
with  the  worst  set  of  gunners  and  drivers  which 
I,  who  have  seen  the  Turkish  field-gv.o?,  ever 
beheld.  They  have  no  cavalry,  only  a  few 
scarecrow  men,  who  would  dissolve  partcership 
with  their  steeds  at  the  first  serious  combined 
movement,  mounted  in  high  saddles,  on  wretched 
mouthless  screws,  and  some  few  regulars  from 
the  frontiers,  who  may  be  good  for  Indians,  but 
who  would  go  over  like  ninepins  at  a  charge 
from  Punjaubee  irregulars.  Their  transport  is 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


151 


tolerably  good,  but  inadequate;  they  have  no 
carriage  for  reserve  ammunition ;  the  commissa 
riat  drivers  are  civilians,  under  little  or  no  con 
trol  ;  the  officers  are  unsoldierly-looking  men ; 
the  camps  are  dirty  to  excess ;  the  men  are  dress 
ed  in  all  sorts  of  uniforms ;  and  from  what  I  hear, 
I  doubt  if  any  of  these  regiments  have  ever  per 
formed  a  brigade  evolution  together,  or  if  any  of 
the  officers  know  what  it  is  to  deploy  a  brigade 
from  column  into  line.  They  are  mostly  three 
months'  men,  whose  time  is  nearly  up.  They 
were,  rejoicing  to-day  over  the  fact  that  it  was 
so,  and  that  they  had'  kept  the  enemy  from 
Washington  "  without  a  fight."  And  it  is  with 
this  rabblement  that  the  North  propose  not  only 
to  subdue  the  South,  but  according  to  some  of 
their  papers,  to  humiliate  Great  Britain,  and  con 
quer  Canada  afterwards. 

I  am  opposed  to  national  boasting,  but  I  do 
firmly  believe  that  10,000  British  regulars,  or 
12,000  French,  with  a  proper  establishment  of 
artillery  and  cavalry,  would  not  only  entirely 
repulse  this  army  with  the  greatest  ease,  under 
competent  commanders,  but  that  they  could 
attack  them  and  march  into  Washington  over 
them  or  with  them  whenever  they  pleased.  Not 
that  Frenchman  or  Englishman  is  perfection,  but 
that  the  American  of  this  army  knows  nothing  of 
discipline,  and  what  is  more,  cares  less  for  it. 

Major- General  M'Clellan  —  I  beg  his  pardon 
for  styling  him  Brigadier — has  really  been  suc 
cessful.  By  a  very  well-conducted  and  rather 
rapid  march,  he  was  enabled  to  bring  superior 
forces  to  bear  on  some  raw  levies  under  General 
Garnett  (who  came  over  with  me  in  the  steamer), 
which  fled  after  a  few  shots,  and  were  utterly 
routed,  when  their  gallant  commander  fell,  in  an 
abortive  attempt  to  rally  them  by  the  banks  of 
Cheat  river.  In  this  "great  battle"  M'Clellan's 
loss  is  less  than  30  killed  and  wouncJfed,  and  the 
Confederates  loss  is  less  than  100.  But  the  dis 
persion  of  such  guerilla  bands  has  the  most  useful 
effect  among  the  people  of  the  district ;  and  M* 
Clellan  has  done  good  service,  especially  as  his 
little  victory  will  lead  to  the  discomfiture  of  all 
Secessionists  in  the  valley  of  the  Kenawha,  and 
in  the  valley  of  Western  Virginia.  I  left  Wash 
ington  this  afternoon,  with  the  Sanitary  Commis 
sioners,  for  Baltimore,  in  order  to  visit  the  Federal 
camps  at  Fortress  Monroe,  to  which  we  proceed 
ed  down  the  Chesapeake  the  same  night. 


CHAPTER  XLYII. 

Fortress  Monroe — General  Butler — Hospital  accommo 
dation — Wounded  soldiers — Aristocratic  pedigrees — A 
great  gun — Newport  News — Fraudulent  contractors — 
General  Butler — Artillery  practice — Contraband  ne 
groes — Confederate  lines — Tombs  of  American  loyal 
ists — Troops  and  contractors — Duryea's  New  York 
Zouaves— Military  calculations — A  voyage  by  steamer 
to  Annapolis. 

July  \411i. — At  six  o'clock  this  morning  the 
steamer  arrived  at  the  wharf  under  the  walls  of 
Fortress  Monroe,  which  presented  a  very  differ 
ent  appearance  from  the  quiet  of  its  aspect  when 
first  1  saw  it,  some  moirths  ago.  Camps  spread 
around  it,  the  parapets  lined  with  sentries,  guns 
looking  out  towards  the  land,  lighters  and  steam 
ers  alongside  the  wharf,  a  strong  guar  dat  the  end 
of  the  pier,  passes  to  be  scrutinised  and  permits 
to  be  given.  I  landed  with  the  members  of  the 


Sanitary  Commission,  and  repaired  to  a  very 
large  pile  of  buildings,  called  "  The  Hygeia  Ho 
tel,"  for  once  on  a  time  Fortress  Monroe  was 
looked  upon  as  the  resort  of  the  sickly,  who  re 
quired  bracing  air  and  an  abundance  of  oysters ; 
it  is  now  occupied  by  the  wounded  in  the  several 
actions  and  skirmishes  which  have  taken  place, 
particularly  at  Bethel ;  and  it  is  so  densely 
crowded  that  we  had  difficulty  in  procuring  the 
use  of  some  small  dirty  rooms  to  dress  in.  As 
the  business  of  the  Commission  was  principally 
directed  to  ascertain  the  state  of  the  hospitals, 
they  considered  it  necessary  in  the  first  instance 
to  visit  General  Butler,  the  commander  of  the 
post,  who  has  been  recommending  himself  to  the 
Federal  Government  by  his  activity  ever  since  he 
came  down  to  Baltimore,  and  the  whole  body 
marched  to  the  fort,  crossing  the  drawbridge  after 
some  parley  with  the  guard,  and  received  per 
mission,  on  the  production  of  passes,  to  enter  the 
court. 

The  interior  of  the  work  covers  a  space  of  about 
seven  or  eight  acres,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  and 
is  laid  out  with  some  degree  of  taste  ;  rows  of  fine 
trees  border  the  walks  through  the  grass  plots ; 
the  officers'  quarters,  neat  and  snug,  are  surround- 
od  with  little  patches  of  flowers,  and  covered 
with  creepers.  All  order  and  neatness,  however, 
were  fast  disappearing  beneath  the  tramp  of 
mailed  feet,  for  at  least  1200  men  had  pitched 
their  tents  inside  the  place.  We  sent  in  our 
names  to  the  General,  who  lives  in  a  detached 
house  close  to  the  sea  face  of  the  fort,  and  sat 
down  on  a  bench  under  the  shade  of  some  trees 
to  avoid  the  excessive  heat  of  the  sun  until  th 
commander  of' the  place  could  receive  the  Com 
missioners.  He  was  evidently  in  no  great  hurry 
to  do  so.  In  about  half  an  hour  an  aide-de-camp 
came  out  to  say  that  the  General  was  getting  up, 
and  that  he  would  see  us  after  breakfast.  Some 
of  the  Commissioners,  from  purely  sanitary  consi 
derations,  would  have  been  much  better  pleased, 
to  have  seen  him  at  breakfast,  as  they  had  only 
partaken  of  a  very  light  rneal  on  board  the  steam 
er  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  but  we  were 
interested  meantime  by  the  morning  parade  of  a 
portion  of  the  garrison,  consisting  of  300  regulars, 
a  Massachusetts'  volunteer  battalion,  and  the  2nd 
New  York  Regiment. 

It  was  quite  refreshing  to  the  eye  to  see  the 
cleanliness  of  the  regulars — their  white  gloves 
and  belts,  and  polished  buttons,  contrasted  with 
the  slovenly  aspect  of  the  volunteers  ;  but,  as  far 
as  the  material  went,  the  volunteers  had  by  far 
the  best  of  the  comparison.  The  civilians  who 
were  with  me  did  not  pay  much  attention  to  the 
regulars,  and  evidently  preferred  the  volunteers, 
although  they  could  not  be  insensible  to  the  mag 
nificent  drum-major  who  led  the  band  of  the 
regulars.  Presently  General  Butler  came  out  of 
his  quarters,  and  walked  down  the  lines,  followed 
by  a  few  officers.  He  is  a  stout,  middle-aged 
man,  strongly  built,  with  coarse  limbs,  his  fea 
tures  indicative  of  great  shrewdness  and  craft,  his 
forehead  high,  the  elevation  being  in  some  degree 
due  perhaps  to  the  want  of  hair ;  with  a  strong 
obliquity  of  vision,  which  may  perhaps  have  been 
caused  by  an  injury,  as  the  eyelid  hangs  with  a 
peculiar  droop  over  the  organ. 

The  General,  whose  manner  is  quick,  decided, 
and  abrupt,  but  not  at  all  rude  or  unpleasant,  at 
once  acceded  to  the  wishes  of  the  Sanitary  Com- 


152 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


missioners,  and  expressed  his  desire  to  make  my 
stay  at  the  fort  as  agreeable  and  useful  as  he 
could.  "  You  can  first  visit  the  hospitals  in  com 
pany  with  these  gentlemen,  and  then  come  over 
with  me  to  our  camp,  where  I  will  show  you 
everything  that  is  to  be  seen.  I  have  ordered  a 
steamer  to  be  in  readiness  to  take  you  to  New 
port  News."  He  speaks  rapidly,  and  either 
affects  or  possesses  great  decision.  The  Commis 
sioners  accordingly  proceeded  to  make  the  most 
of  their  time  in  visiting  the  Hygeia  Hotel,  being 
accompanied  by  the  medical  officers  of  the  garrison. 

The  rooms,  but  a  short  time  ago  occupied  by 
the  fair  ladies  of  Virginia,  when  they  came  down 
to  enjoy  the  sea  breezes,  were  now  crowded  with 
Federal  soldiers,  many  of  them  suffering  from  the 
loss  of  limb  or  serious  wounds,  others  from  the 
worst  form  of  camp  disease.  I  enjoyed  a  small 
national  triumph  over  Dr.  Bellows,  the  chief  of 
the  Commissioners,  who  is  of  the  t:  sang  re  azul  " 
of  Yankeeism,  by  which  I  mean  that  he  is  a 
believer,  not  in  the  perfectibility,  but  in  the  abso 
lute  perfection,  of  New  England  nature,  which 
is  the  only  human  nature  that  is  not  utterly  lost 
and  abandoned — Old  England  nature,  perhaps, 
being  the  worst  of  all.  We  had  been  speaking 
to  the  wounded  men  in  several  rooms,  and  found 
most  of  them  either  in  the  listless  condition  con 
sequent  upon  exhaustion,  or  with  that  anxious 
air  which  is  often  observable  on  the  faces  of  the 
wounded  when  strangers  approach.  At  last  wre 
came  into  a  room  in  which  two  soldiers  were  sit 
ting  up,  the  first  we  had  seen,  reading  the  news 
papers.  Dr.  Bellows  asked  where  they  came 
from ;  one  was  from  Concord,  the  other  from 
Newhaven.  "  You  see,  Mr.  Russell,"  said  Dr. 
Bellows,  "  how  our  Yankee  soldiers  spend  their 
time.  I  knew  at  once  they  were  Americans 
when  I  saw  them  reading  newspapers."  One  of 
them  had  his  hand  shattered  by  a  bullet,  the 
other  was  suffering  from  a  gun-shot  wound 
through  the  body.  "  Where  were  you  hit  ?"  I  in 
quired  of  the  first.  "  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  guess  my 
rifle  went  off  when  I  was  cleaning  it  in  camp." 
"  Were  you  wounded  at  Bethel  ?"  I  asked  of  the 
second.  "  No,  sir,"  he  replied ;  "  I  got  this 
wound  from  a  comrade,  who  discharged  his  piece 
by  accident  in  one  of  the  tents  as  I  was  standing 
outside."  "  So,"  said  I,  to  Dr.  Bellows,  "  whilst 
the  Britishers  and  Germans  are  engaged  with  the 
enemy,  you  Americans  employ  your  time  shooting 
each  other!" 

These  men  were  true  mercenaries,  for  they  were 
fighting  for  money — I  mean  the  strangers.  One 
poor  fellow  from  Devonshire  said,  as  he  pointed 
to  his  stump,  "  I  wish  I  had  lost  it  for  the  sake 
of  the  old  island,  sir,"  paraphrasing  Sarstleld's  ex 
clamation  as  he  lay  dying  on  the  field.  The 
Americans  were  fighting  for  the  combined  excel 
lences  and  strength  of  the  States  of  New  England, 
and  of  the  rest  of  the  Federal  power  over  the 
Confederates,  for  they  could  not  in  their  heart  of 
hearts  believe  the  Old  Union  could  be  restored 
by  force  of  arms.  Lovers  may  quarrel  and  may 
reunite,  but  if  a  blow  is  struck  there  is  no  redinte- 
gratio  amoris  possible  again.  The  newspapers 
and  illustrated  periodicals  which  they  read  were 
the  pabulum  that  fed  the  flames  of  patriotism  iiv 
cessantly.  Such  capacity  for  enormous  lying, 
both  in  creation  and  absorption,  the  world  never 
heard.  Sufficient  for  the  hour  is  the  falsehood. 

There  were  lady  nurses  iu  attendance  on  the 


patients ;  who  followed — let  us  believe,  as  I  do. 
out  of  some  higher  motive  than  the  mere  desire 
of  human  praise — the  example  of  Miss  Nightin 
gale.  I  loitered  behind  in  the  rooms,  asking 
many  questions  respecting  the  nationality  of  the 
men,  in  which  the  members  of  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission  took  no  interest,  and  I  was  just  turning 
into  one  near  the  corner  of  the  passage  when  J 
was  stopped  by  a  loud  smack.  A  young  Scotch 
man  was  dividing  his  attention  between  a  basin 
of  soup  and  a  demure  young  lady  from  Philadel 
phia,  who  was  feeding  him  with  a  spoon,  his 
only  arm  being  engaged  in  holding  her  round  the 
waist,  in  order  to  prevent  her  being  tired,  I  pre 
sume.  Miss  Rachel,  or  Deborah,  had  a  pair  of 
very  pretty  blue  eyes,  but  they  flashed  very  an 
grily  from  under  her  trim  little  cap  at  the  unvvit 
ting  intruder,  and  then  she  said,  in  severest  tones, 
"  Will  you  take  your  medicine,  or  not  ?"  Sandj 
smiled,  and  pretended  to  be  very  penitent. 

When  we  returned  with  the  doctors  from  our 
inspection  we  walked  round  the  parapets  of  the 
fortress,  why  so  called  I  know  not,  because  it  is 
merely  a  fort.  The  guns  and  mortars  are  old- 
fashioned  and  heavy,  with  the  exception  of  some 
new-fashioned  and  very  heavy  Columbiads,  which 
are  cast-iron  8-,  10-,  and  12-inch  guns,  in  which 
I  have  no  faith  whatever.  The  armament  is  not 
sufficiently  powerful  to  prevent  its  interior  being 
searched  out  by  the  long  range  fire  of  ships  with 
rifle  guns,  or  mortar  boats ;  but  it  would  require 
closer  and  harder  work  to  breach  the  masses  of 
brick  and  masonry  which  constitute  the  parapets 
and  casemates.  The  guns,  carriages,  rammers, 
shot,  were  dirty,  rusty,  and  neglected ;  but  Gen 
eral  Butler  told  me  he  was  busy  polishing  up 
things  about  the  fortress  as  fast  as  he  could. 

Whilst  we  were  parading  these  hot  walls  in  the 
sunshine,  my  companions  were  discussing  the  } 
question  o&aucestry.  It  appears  your  New  Eiig-  ? 
lander  is  very  proud  of  his  English  descent  from 
good  blood,  and  it  is  one  of  their  isms  in  tho 
Yankee  States  that  they  are  the  salt  of  the  British 
people  and  the  true  aristocracy  of  blood  and 
family,  whereas  we  in  the  isles  retain  but  a  paltry 
share  of  the  blue  blood  defiled  b/  incessant  infil 
trations  of  the  muddy  fluid  of  the  outer  world. 
This  may  be  new  to  us  Britishers,  but  is  a  Q.  E.  D. 
If  a  gentleman  left  Europe  200  years  ago,  and 
settled  with  his  kin  and  kith,  intermarrying  his' 
children  with  their  equals,  and  thus  perpetuating 
an  ancient  family,  it  is  evident  he  may  be  regarded 
as  the  founder  of  a  much  more  honourable  dynasty 
than  the  relative  who  remained  behind  him,  arid 
lost  the  old  family  place,  and  sunk  into  obscurity. 
A  singular  illustration  of  the  tendency  to  make 
much  of  themselves  may  be  found  in  the  fact, 
that  New  England  swarms  with  genealogical 
societies  and  bodies  of  antiquaries,  who  delight 
in  reading  papers  about  each  other's  ancestors, 
and  tracing  their  descent  from  Norman  or  Saxon 
barons  and  earls.  The  Virginians  opposite,  who 
are  flouting  us  with  their  Confederate  flag  from 
Sewall's  Point,  are  equally  given  to  the  "  genus 
et  proavos." 

At  the  end  of  our  promenade  round  the  ram 
parts,  Lieutenant  Butler,  the  General's  nephew 
and  aide-de-camp,  came  to  tell  us  the  boat  was 
ready,  and  we  met  His  Excellency  in  the  court 
yard,  whence  we  walked  down  to  the  wharf.  On 
our  way,  General  Butler  called  my  attention  to 
aa  enormous  heap  of  hollow  iron  lyinej  on  the 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


153 


sand,  which  was  the  Union  gun  that  is  intended 
to  throw  a  shot  of  some  350  Ibs.  weight  or  more, 
to  astonish  the  Confederates  at  Sewall's  Point 
opposite,  when  it  is  mounted.  This  gun,  if  I 
mistake  not,  was  made  after  the  designs  of  Cap 
tain  Rodman,  of  the  United  States  artillery,  who 
iu  a  series  of  remarkable  papers,  the  publication 
of  which  has  cost  the  country  a  large  sum  of 
money,  has  given  us  the  results  of  long-continued 
investigations  and  experiments  on  the  best  method 
of  cooling  masses  of  iron  for  ordnance  purposes, 
and  of  making  powder  for  heavy  shot.  The 
piece  must  weigh  about  20  tons,  but  a  similar 
gun,  mounted  on  an  artificial  island  called  the 
Rip  Raps,  in  the  Channel  opposite  the  fortress,  is 
said  to  be  worked  with  facility.  The  Confederates 
have  raised  some  of  the  vessels  sunk  by  the  United 
States  officers  when  the  Navy  Yard  at  Gosport 
was  destroyed,  and  as  some  of  these  are  to  be 
converted  into  rams,  the  Federals  are  preparing 
their  heaviest  ordnance,  to  try  the  effect  of  crush 
ing  weights  at  low  velocities  against  their  sides, 
should  they  attempt  to  play  any  pranks  among 
the  transport  vessels.  The  General  said:  "It  is 
not  by  these  great  masses  of  iron  this  contest  is 
to  be  decided :  we  must  bring  sharp  points  of  steel, 
directed  by  superior  intelligence.''  Hitherto 
General  Butler's  attempts  at  Big  Bethel  have  not 
been  crowned  with  success  in  employing  such 
means,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that,  according  to 
his  own  statement,  his  lieutenants  were  guilty  of 
carelessness  and  neglect  of  ordinary  military  pre 
cautions  in  the  conduct  of  the  expedition  he  order 
ed.  The  march  of  different  columns  of  troops  by 
night  concentrating  on  a  given  point  is  always 
liable  to  serious  interruptions,  and  frequently 
gives  rise  to  hostile  encounters  between  friends, 
in  more  disciplined  armies  than  the  raw  levies 
of  United  States  volunteers. 

"When  the  General,  Commissioners,  and  Staff 
had  embarked,  the  steamer  moved  across  the 
broad  estuary  to  Newport  News.  Among  our 
passengers  were  several  medical  officers  in  attend 
ance  on  the  Sanitary  Commissioners,  some  belong 
ing  to  the  army,  others  who  had  volunteered 
from  civil  life.  Their  discussion  of  professional 
questions  and  of  relative  rank  assumed  such  a 
personal  character,  that  General  Butler  had  to 
interfere  to  quiet  the  disputants,  but  the  exertion 
of  his  authority  was  not  altogether  successful, 
and  one  of  the  angry  gentlemen  said  in  my  hear 
ing,  "I'm  d — d  if  I  submit  to  such  treatment  if 
all  the  lawyers  in  Massachusetts  with  stars  on 
their  collars  were  to  order  me  to-morrow." 

On  arriving  at  the  low  shore  of  Newport  News 
we  landed  at  a  wooden  jetty,  and  proceeded  to 
visit  the  camp  of  the  Federals,  which  was  sur 
rounded  by  a  strong  entrenchment,  mounted 
with  guns  on  the  water  face ;  and  on  the  angles 
inland,  a  broad  tract  of  cultivated  country, 
bounded  by  a  belt  of  trees,  extended  from  the 
river  away  from  the  encampment;  but  the  Con 
federates  are  so  close  at  hand  that  frequent 
skirmishes  have  occurred  between  the  foraging 
parties  of  the  garrison  and  the  enemy,  who  have 
on  more  than  one  occasion  pursued  the  Federals 
to  the  very  verge  of  the  woods. 

Whilst  the  Sanitary  Commissioners  were  groan 
ing  over  the  heaps  of  filth  which  abound  in  all 
camps  where  discipline  is  not  most  strictly 
observed,  I  walked  round  amongst  the  tents, 
which,  taken  altogether,  were  in  good  order. 


The  day  was  excessively  hot,  and  many  of  the 
soldiers  were  lying  down  in  the  shade  of  arbours 
formed  of  branches  from  the  neighbouring  pine 
wood,  but  most  of  them  got  up  when  they  heard 
the  General  was  coming  round.  A  sentry  walked 
up  and  down  at  the  end  of  the  street,  and  as  the 
General  came  up  to  him  he  called  out  "  Halt. 
The  man  stood  still.  "  I  just  want  to  show  you, 
sir,  what  scoundrels  our  Government  has  to  deal 
with.  This  man  belongs  to  a  regiment  which 
has  had  new  clothing  recently  served  out  to  it. 
Look  what  it  is  made  of."  So  saying  the  General 
stuck  his  fore-finger  into  the  breast  of  the  man's 
coat,  and  with  a  rapid  scratch  of  his  nail  tore 
open  the  cloth  as  if  it  was  of  blotting  paper. 
"Shoddy,  sir.  Nothing  but  shoddy.  I  wish  I 
had  these  contractors  in  the  trenches  here,  and 
if  hard  work  would  not  make  honest  men  of  them, 
they'd  have  enough  of  it  to  be  examples  for  the 
rest  of  their  fellows." 

A  vivacious,  prying  man,  this  Butler,  full  of 
bustling  life,  self-esteem,  revelling  in  the  exercise 
of  power.     In  the  course  of  our  rounds  we  were 
joined  by  Colonel  J>helps,  who  was  formerly  in 
the  United  States  army,  and  saw  service  in  Mex 
ico,  but  retired  because  he  did  not  approve  of  the 
manner  in  which  promotions  were  made,  and  who 
only  took  command  of  a  Massachusetts  regiment 
because  he  believed  he  might  be  instrumental  in 
striking  a  shrewd  blow  or  two  in  this  great  battle 
of  Armageddon — a  tall,  saturnine,  gloomy,  angry- 
eyed,  sallow  man,  soldier-like  too,  and  one  who 
places  old  John  Brown  on  a  level  with  the  great 
martyrs  of  the  Christian  world.     Indeed  one,  not 
so  fierce  as  he,  is  blasphemous  enough  to  place 
images  of  our  Saviour  and  the  hero  of  Harper's 
Ferry  on  the  mantel-piece,  as  the  two  greatest 
beings  the  world  has  ever  seen.     "Yes,  I  know 
them  well.    I've  seen  them  in  the  field.    I've  sat 
with  them  at  meals.   I've  travelled  through  their 
country.     These  Southern    slave-holders  are  a 
false,  licentious,  godless  people.     Either  we  who 
obey  the  laws  and  fear  God,  or  they  who  know 
no  God  except  their  own  will  and  pleasure,  and 
know  no  law  except  their  passions,  must,  rule  on 
this  continent,  and  I  believe  that  Heaven  will 
help  its  own  in  the  conflict  they  have  provoked. 
I  grant  you  they  are  brave  enough,  and  despe 
rate  too,  but  surely  justice,  truth,  and  religion, 
will  strengthen  a  man's  arm  to  strike  down  those 
who  have  only  brute  force  and  a  bad  cause  to 
support  them."    But  Colonel  Phelps  was  not 
quite  indifferent  to  material  aid,  and  he  made  a 
pressing  appeal  to  General  Butler  to  send  him  some 
more  guns  and  harness  for  the  field-pieces  he  had 
in  position,  because,  said  he,  "in  case  of  attack, 
please  God  I'll  follow  them  up  sharp,  and  cover 
these  fields  with  their  bones."     The  General  had 
a  difficulty  about  the  harness,  which  made  Colo 
nel  Phelps  very  grim,  but  General  Butler  had 
reason  in  saying  he  could  riot  make  harness,  and 
so  the  Colonel  must  be  content  with  the  results 
of  a  good  rattling  fire  of  round,  shell,  grape,  and 
canister,  if  the  Confederates  are  foolish  enough 
to  attack  his  batteries. 

There  was  nothing  to  complain  of  in  the 
camp,  except  the  swarms  of  flies,  the  very  bad 
smells,  and  perhaps  the  shabby  clothing  of 
the  men.  The  tents  were  good  enough.  The 
rations  were  ample,  but  nevertheless  there  was 
a  want,  of  order,  discipline,  arid  quiet  in  the 
lines  which  did  not  augur  well  for  the  internal 


154 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


economy  of  the  regiments.  When  we  returned 
to  the  river  face,  General  Butler  ordered  some 
practice  to  be  made  with  a  Sawyer  rifle  gun, 
which  appeared  to  be  an  ordinary  cast-iron  piece, 
bored  with  grooves,  on  the  shunt  principle,  the 
shot  being  covered  with  a  composition  of  a  metal 
lic  amalgam  like  zinc  and  tin,  and  provided  with 
flanges  of  the  same  material  to  tit  the  grooves. 
The  practice  was  irregular  and  unsatisfactory. 
At  an  elevation  of  24  degrees,  the  first  shot  struck 
the  water  at  a  point  about  2000  yards  distant. 
The  piece  was  then  further  elevated,  and  the  shot 
struck  quite  out  of  land,  close  to  the  opposite 
bank,  a  distance  of  nearly  three  miles.  The  third 
shot  rushed  with  a  peculiar  hurtling  noise  out  of 
the  piece,  and  flew  up  in  the  air,  falling  with  a 
splash  into  the  water  about  1500  yards  away. 
The  next  shot  may  have  gone  half  across  the 
continent,  for  assuredly  it  never  struck  the  water, 
and  most  probably  ploughed  its  way  into  the  soft 
ground  at  the  other  side  of  the  river.  The  shell 
practice  was  still  worse,  and  on  the  whole  I  wish 
our  enemies  may  always  fight  us  with  Sawyer 
guns,  particularly  as  the  shejls  cost  between  £6 
and  £7  a-piece. 

From  the  fort  the  General  proceeded  to  the 
house  of  one  of  the  officers,  near  the  jetty,  for 
merly  the  residence  of  a  Virginian  farmer,  who 
has  now  gone  to  Secessia,  where  we  were  most 
hospitably  treated  at  an  excellent  lunch,  served 
by  the  slaves  of  the  former  proprietor.  Although 
we  boast  with  some  reason  of  the  easy  level  of 
our  mess-rooms,  the  Americans  certainly  excel 
us  in  the  art  of  annihilating  all  military  distinc 
tions  on  such  occasions  as  these ;  and  I  am  not 
sure  the  General  would  not  have  liked  to 
place  a  young  Doctor  in  close  arrest,  who  sud 
denly  made  a  dash  at  the  liver  wing  of  a  fowl  on 
which  the  General  was  bent  with  eye  and  fork, 
and  carried  it  off  to  his  plate.  But  on  the  whole 
there  was  a  good  deal  of  friendly  feeling  amongst 
all  ranks  of  the  volunteers,  the  regulars  being  a 
little  stiff  and  adherent  to  etiquette. 

In  the  afternoon  the  boat  returned  to  Fortress 
Monroe,  and  the  General  invited  me  to  dinner, 
where  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Mrs.  Butler, 
his  staff,  and  a  couple  of  regimental  officers  from 
the  neighbouring  camp.  As  it  was  still  early, 
General  Butler  proposed  a  ride  to  visit  the  inter 
esting  village  of  Hampton,  which  lies  some  six 
or  seven  miles  outside  the  fort,  and  forms  his  ad 
vance  post.  A  powerful  charger,  with  a  tre 
mendous  Mexican  saddle,  fine  housings,  blue  and 
gold  embroidered  saddle-cloth,  was  brought  to 
the  door  for  your  humble  servant,  and  the  Gene 
ral  mounted  another,  which  did  equal  credit  to 
his  taste  in  horseflesh ;  but  I  own  I  felt  rather 
uneasy  on  seeing  that  he  wore  a  pair  of  large 
brass  spurs,  strapped  over  white  jean  brodequiris. 
He  took  with  him  his  aide-camp  and  a  couple  of 
orderlies.  In  the  precincts  of  the  fort  outside,  a 
population  of  contraband  negroes  has  been  col 
lected,  whom  the  General  employs  in  various 
works  about  the  place,  military  and  civil ;  but  I 
failed  to  ascertain  that  the  original  scheme  of  a 
debit  and  credit  account  between  the  value  of 
their  labour  and  the  cost  of  their  maintenance 
had  been  successfully  carried  out.  The  General 
was  proud  of  them,  and  they  seemed  proud  of 
themselves,  saluting  him  with  a  ludicrous  mix 
ture  of  awe  and  familiarity  as  he  rode  past. 
"  How  do,  Massa  Butler  ?  How  do,  General  ?" 


accompanied  by  absurd  bows  and  scrapes.  "  Just 
to  think,"  said  the  General,  "  that  every  one  of 
these  fellows  represents  some  1000  dollars  at  least 
out  of  the  pockets  of  the  chivalry  yonder." 
"Nasty,  idle,  dirty  beasts,"  says  one  of  the  staff, 
sotto  voce ;  "  I  wish  to  Heaven  they  were  all  at 
the  bottom  of  the  Chesapeake.  The  General 
insists  on  it  that  they  do  work,  but  they  are  far 
more  trouble  than  they  are  worth." 

The  road  towards  Hampton  traverses  a  sandy 
spit,  which,  however,  is  more  fertile  than  would 
be  supposed  from  the  soil  under  the  horses' 
hoofs,  though  it  is  not  in  the  least  degree  interest 
ing.  A  br§ad  creek  or  river  interposed  between 
us  and  the  town,  the  bridge  over  which  had  been 
destroyed.  "Workmen  were  busy  repairing  it,  but 
all  the  planks  had  not  yet  been  laid  down  or 
nailed,  and  in  some  places  the  open  space ,  be 
tween  the  upright  rafters  allowed  us  to  see  the 
dark  waters  flowing  beneath.  The  Aide  said, 
"  I  don't  think,  General,  it  is  safe  to  cross ;"  but 
his  chief  did  not  mind  him  until  his  horse  very 
nearly  crashed  through  a  plank,  and  only  re 
gained  its  footing  with  unbroken  legs  by  marvel 
lous  dexterity ;  whereupon  we  dismounted,  and, 
leaving  the  horses  to  be  carried  over  in  the  ferry 
boat,  completed  the  rest  of  the  transit,  not  with 
out  difficulty.  At  the  other  end  of  the  bridge  a 
street  lined  with  comfortable  houses,  and  bor 
dered  with  trees,  led  us  into  the  pleasant  town 
or  village  of  Hampton — pleasant  once,  but  now 
deserted  by  all  the  inhabitants  except  some  pau 
perised  whites  and  a  colony  of  negroes.  It  was 
in  full  occupation  of  the  Federal  soldiers,  and  I 
observed  that  most  of  the  men  were  Germans. 
the  garrison  at  Newport  News  being  principally 
composed  of  Americans.  The  old  red  brick 
houses,  with  cornices  of  white  stone ;  the  narrow 
windows  and  high  gables,  gave  an  aspect  of  anti 
quity  and  European  comfort  to  the  place,  the  like 
of  which  I  have  not  yet  seen  in  the  States.  Most 
of  the  shops  were  closed ;  in  some  the  shutters 
were  still  down,  and  the  goods  remained  displayed 
in  the  windows.  "I  have  allowed  no  plunder 
ing,"  said  the  General;  "and  if  I  find  a  fellow 
trying  to  do  it,  I  will  hang  him  as  sure  as  my 
name  is  Butler.  See  here,"  and  as  he  spoke  he 
walked  into  a  large  woollen-draper's  shop,  where 
bales  of  cloth  were  still  lying  on  the  shelves,  and 
many  articles  such  as  are  found  in  a  large  general 
store  in  a  country  town  were  disposed  on  the 
floor  or  counters ;  "  they  shall  not  accuse  the 
men  under  my  command  of  being  robbers."  The 
boast,  however,  was  not  so  well  justified  in  a 
visit  to  another  house  occupied  by  some  soldiers. 
"  Well,"  said  the  General,  with  a  smile,  "  I  dare 
say  you  know  enough  of  camps  to  have  found  out 
that  chairs  and  tables  are  irresistible;  the  men 
will  take  them  off  to  their  tents,  though  they  may 
have  to  leave  them  next  morning." 

The  principal  object  of  our  visit  was  the  forti 
fied  trench  which  has  been  raised  outside  the 
town  towards  the  Confederate  lines.  The  path 
lay  through  a  churchyard  filled  with  most  iute^ 
resting  monuments.  The  sacred  edifice  of  red 
brick,  with  a  square  clock  tower  rent  by  light 
ning,  is  rendered  interesting  by  the  fact  that  it  is 
almost  the  first  church  built  by  the  English  colo 
nists  of  Virginia.  On  the  tombstones  are  re 
corded  the  names  of  many  subjects  of  his  Majesty 
George  III.,  and  familiar  names  of  persons  born 
in  the  early  part  of  last  century  in  English  vil- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


155 


lages,  who  passed  to  their  rest  before  the  great 
rebellion  of  the  Colonies  had  disturbed  their  no 
tions  of  loyalty  and  respect  to  the  Crown.  Many 
a  British  subject,  too,  lies  there,  whose  latter 
days  must  have  been  troubled  by  the  strange 
scenes  of  the  war  of  independence.  With  what 
doubt  and  distrust  must  that  one  at  whose  tomb 
I  stand  have  heard  that  George  Washington  was 
making  head  against  the  troops  ,of  His  Majesty 
King  George  III.  1  How  the  hearts  of  the  old 
men  who  had  passed  the  best  years  of  their 
existence,  as  these  stories  tell  us,  fighting  for  His 
Majesty  against  the  French,  must  have  beaten 
when  once  more  they  heard  the  roar  of  the 
Frenchman's  ordnance  uniting  with  the  voices  of 
the  rebellious  guns  of  the  colonists  from  the 
plains  of  Yorktown  against  the  entrenchments  in 
which  Cornwallis  and  his  deserted  band  stood  at 
hopeless  bay!  But  could  these  old  eyes  open 
again,  and  see  General  Butler  standing  on  the 
eastern  rampart  which  bounds  their  resting-place, 
and  pointing  to  the  spot  whence  the  rebel  cavalry 
of  Virginia  issue  night  and  day  to  charge  the 
loyal  pickets  of  His  Majesty  The  Union,  they 
might  take  some  comfort  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
vaticinations  which  no  doubt  they  uttered,  "It 
cannot,  and  it  will  not,  come  to  good." 

Having  inspected  the  works — as  far  as  I  could 
judge,  too  extended,  and  badly  traced — which  I 
say  with  all  deference  to  the  able  young  engineer 
who  accompanied  us  to  point  out  the  various 
objects  of  interest— the  General  returned  to  the 
bridge,  where  we  remounted,  and  made  a  tour  of 
the  camps  of  the  force  intended  to  defend  Hamp 
ton,  falling  back  on  Fortress  Monroe  in  case  of 
necessity.  Whilst  he  was  riding  venire  a  terre, 
which  seems  to  be  his  favourite  pace,  his  horse 
stumbled  in  the  dusty  road,  and  in  his  effort  to 
keep  his  seat  the  General  broke  his  stirrup  lea 
ther,  and  the  ponderous  brass  stirrup  fell  to  the 
ground ;  but,  albeit  a  lawyer,  ho  neither  lost  his 
seat  nor  his  sany  froid,  and  calling  out  to  his  or 
derly  "  to  pick  up  his  toe  plate,"  the  jean  slippers 
were  closely  pressed,  spurs  and  all,  to  the  sides 
of  his  steed,  and  away  we  went  once  more 
through  dust  and  heat  so  great  I  was  by  no 
means  sorry  when  he  pulled  up  outside  a  pretty 
villa,  standing  in  a  garden,  which  was  occupied 
by  Colonel  Max  Weber,  of  the  German  Turner 
Regiment,  once  the  property  of  General  Tyler. 
The  camp  of  the  Turners,  who  are  members  of 
various  gymnastic  societies,  was  situated  close  at 
hand ;  but  I  had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  them 
at  work,  as  the  Colonel  insisted  on  our  partaking 
of  the  hospitalities  of  his  little  mess,  and  produced 
some  bottles  of  sparkling  hock  and  a  block  of  ice, 
by  no  means  unwelcome  after  our  fatiguing  ride. 
His  Major,  whose  name  I  have  unfortunately  for 
gotten,  and  who  spoke  English  better  than  his 
chief,  had  served  in  some  capacity  or  other  in  the 
Crimea,  and  made  many  inquiries  after  the  officers 
of  the  Guards  whom  he  had  known  there.  I 
took  an  opportunity  of  asking  him  in  what  state 
the  troops  were.  "  The  whole  thing  is  a  rob 
bery,"  he  exclaimed;  "this  war  is  for  the  con 
tractors  ;  the  men  do  not  get  a  third  of  what  the 
Government  pay  for  them ;  as  for  discipline,  my 
God!  it  exists  not.  We  Germans  are  well 
enough,  of  course ;  we  know  our  affair ;  but  as 
for  the  Americans,  what  would  you  ?  They  make 
colonels  out  of  doctors  and  lawyers,  and  captains 
out  of  fellows  who  are  not  fit  to  brush  a  soldier's 


shoe."  "But  the  men  get  their  pay?"  "Yes; 
that  is  so.  At  the  end  of  two  months,  they  get 
it,  arid  by  that  time  it  is  due  to  sutlers,  who 
charge  them  100  per  cent." 

It  is  easy  to  believe  these  old  soldiers  do  not 
put  much  confidence  in  General  Butler,  though 
they  admit  his  energy.  "Look  you;  one  good 
officer  with  5000  steady  troops,  such  as  we  have 
in  Europe,  shall  come  down  any  night  and  walk 
over  us  all  into  Fortress  Monroe  whenever  he 
pleased,  if  he  knew  how  these  troops  were 
placed." 

On  leaving  the  German  Turners,  the  General 
visited  the  camp  of  Duryea's  New  York  Zouaves, 
who  were  turned  out  at  evening  parade,  or  more 
properly  speaking,  drill.  But  for  the  ridiculous 
effect  of  their  costume  the  regiment  would  have 
looked  well  enough ;  but  riding  down  on  the  rear 
of  the  ranks  the  discoloured  napkins  tied  round 
their  heads,  without  any  fez  cap  beneath,  so  that 
the  hair  sometimes  stuck  up  through  the  folds, 
the  ill-made  jackets,  the  loose  bags  of  red  calico 
hanging  from  their  loins,  the  long  gaiters  of  white 
cotton — instead  of  the  real  Zouave  yellow  and 
black  greave,  and  smart  white  gaiter — made  them 
appear  such  military  scarecrows,  I  could  scarcely 
refrain  from  laughing  outright.  Nevertheless  the 
men  were  respectably  drilled,  marched  steadily 
in  columns  of  company,  wheeled  into  line,  and 
went  past  at  quarter  distance  at  the  double  much 
better  than  could  be  expected  from  the  short 
time  they  had  been  in  the  field,  and  I  could  with 
all  sincerity  say  to  Col.  Duryea,  a  smart  and  not 
unpretentious  gentleman,  who  asked  my  opinion 
so  pointedly  that  I  could  not  refuse  to  give  it, 
that  I  considered  the  appearance  of  the  regiment 
very  creditable.  The  shades  of  evening  were 
now  falling,  and  as  I  had  been  up  before  5  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  I  was  not  sorry  when  General 
Butler  said,  "  Now  we  will  go  home  to  tea,  or 
you  will  detain  the  steamer."  He  had  arranged 
before  I  started  that  the  vessel,  which  in  ordinary 
course  would  have  returned  to  Baltimore  at  8 
o'c^pck,  should  remain  till  he  sent  down  word  to 
the  captain  to  go. 

We  scampered  back  to  the  fort,  and  judging 
from  the  challenges  and  vigilance  of  the  sen 
tries,  and  inlying  pickets,  I  am  not  quite  so  sa 
tisfied  as  the  Major  that  the  enemy  could  have 
surprised  the  place.  At  the  tea-table  there  were 
no  additions  to  the  General's  family;  he  therefore 
spoke  without  any  reserve.  Going  over  the 
map,  he  explained  his  views  in  reference  to  future 
operations,  and  showed  cause,  with  more  military 
acumen  than  I  could  have  expected  from  a  gen 
tleman  of  the  long  robe,  why  he  believed  For 
tress  Monroe  was  the  true  base  of  operations 
against  Richmond. 

I  have  been  convinced  for  some  time,  that  if  a 
sufficient  force  could  be  left  to  cover  Washington, 
the  Federals  should  move  against  Richmond  from 
the  Peninsula,  where  they  could  form  their  depots 
at  leisure,  and  advance,  protected  by  their  gun 
boats,  on  a  very  short  line  which  offers  far 
greater  facilities  and  advantages  than  the  inland 
route  from  Alexandria  to  Richmond,  which,  dif 
ficult  in  itself  from  the  nature  of  the  country,  is 
exposed  to  the  action  of  a  hostile  population,  and, 
above  all,  to  the  danger  of  constant  attacks  by 
the  enemies'  cavalry,  tending  more  or  less  to  de 
stroy  all  communication  with  the  base  of  the  Fe- 
deral'operations. 


156 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


The  threat  of  seizing  "Washington  led  to  a 
concentration  of  the  Union  troops  in  front  of  it, 
which  caused  in  turn  the  collection  of  the  Con 
federates  on  the  lines  below  to  defend  Rich- 
mpnd.  It  is  plain  that  if  the  Federals  can  cover 
Washington,  and  at  the  same  time  assemble  a 
force  at  Monroe  strong  enough  to  march  on 
Richmond,  as  they  desire,  the  Confederates  will 
be  placed  in  an  exceedingly  hazardous  position, 
scarcely  possible  to  escape  from;  and  there  is 
no  reason  why  the  North,  with  their  over 
whelming  preponderance,  should  not  do  so,  un 
less  they^be  carried  away  by  the  fatal  spirit  of 
brag  arid  bluster  which  comes  from  their  press 
to  overrate  their  own  strength  and  to  despise 
their  enemy's.  The  occupation  of  Suffolk  will 
be  seen,  by  any  one  who  studies  the  map,  to 
afford  a  most  powerful  leverage  to  the  Federal 
forces  from  Monroe  in  their  attempts  to  turn 
the  enemy  out  of  their  camps  of  communication, 
and  to  enable  them  to  menace  Richmond  as  well 
as  the  Southern  States  most  seriously. 

But  whilst  the  General  and  I  are  engaged 
over  our  maps  and  mint  juleps,  time  flies,  and 
at  last  I  perceive  by  the  clock  that  it  is  time  to 
go.  An  aide  is  sent  to  stop  the  boat,  but  he 
returns  ere  I  leave  with  the  news  that  "  She  is 
gone."  Whereupon  the  General  sends  for  the 
Quartermaster  Talmadge,  who  is  out  in  the 
camps,  and  only  arrives  in  time  to  receive  a 
severe  "wigging."  It  so  happened 'that  I  had 
important  papers  to  send  off  by  the  next  mail 
from  New  York,  and  the  only  chance  of  being 
able  to  do  so  depended  on  my  being  in  Balti- 
Inore  next  day.  General  Butler  acted  with 
kindness  and  promptitude  in  the  matter.  "  I 
promised  you  should  go  by  the  steamer,  but  the 
captain  has  gone  off  without  orders  to  leave, 
for  which  he  shall  answer  when  I  see  him. 
Meantime  it  is  my  business  to  keep  my  promise. 
Captain  Talmadge,  you  will  at  once  go  down 
and  give  orders  to  the  most  suitable  transport 
steamer  or  chartered  vessel  available,  to  get  up 
steam  at  once  and  come  up  to  the  wharf  for  Mr. 
Russell." 

Whilst  I  was  sitting  in  the  parlor  which 
served  as  the  General's  office,  there  came  in  a 
pale,  bright-eyed,  slim  young  man  in  a  sub 
altern's  uniform,  who  sought  a  private  audience, 
and  unfolded  a  plan  he  had  formed,  on  certain 
data  gained  by  nocturnal  expeditions,  to  sur 
prise  a  body  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  which  was 
in  the  habit  of  coming  down  every  night  and 
disturbing  the  pickets  at  Hampton.  His  man 
ner  was  so  eager,  his  information  so  precise, 
that  the  General  could  not  refuse  his  sanction, 
but  he  gave  it  in  a  characteristic  manner. 
"  Well,  sir,  I  understand  your  proposition.  You 
intend  to  go  out  as  a  volunteer  to  effect  this 
service.  You  ask  my  permission  to  get  men  for 
it.  I  cannot  grant  you  an  order  to  any  of  the 
officers  in  command  of  regiments  to  provide  you 
with  these;  but  if  the  Colonel  of  your  regiment 
wishes  to  give  leave  to  his  men  to  volunteer, 
>  and  they  like  to  go  with  you,  I  give  you  leave 
to  take  them.  I  wash  my  hands  of  all  responsi 
bility  in  the  affair."  The  officer  bowed  and 
retired,  saying,  "That  is  quite  enough,  Gene 
ral."* 


At  10  o'clock  the  Quartermaster  came  back 
to  say  that  a  screw  steamer  called  the  Elizabeth 
was  getting  up  steam  for  my  reception,  and  I 
bade  good-by  to  the  General,  and  walked  down 
with  his  aide  and  nephew,  Lieutenant  Butler, 
to  the  Hygeia  Hotel  to  get  my  light  knapsack. 
It  was  a  lovely  moonlight  night,  and  as  I  was 
passing  down  an  avenue  of  trees  an  officer 
stopped  me,  and  exclaimed,  "  General  Butler, 
I  hear  you  have  given  leave  to  Lieutenant 
Blank  to  take  a  party  of  my  regiment  and  go 
off  scouting  to-night  after  the  enemy.  It  is  too 
hard  that — "  What  more  he  was  going  to  say 
I  know  not,  for  I  corrected  the  mistake,  and 
the  officer  walked  hastily  on  towards  the  Gene 
ral's  quarters.  On  reaching  the  Hygeia  Hotel 
I  was  met  by  the  correspondent  of  a  New  York 
paper,  who  as  commissary-general,  or,  as  they 
are  styled  in  the  States,  officer  of  subsistence,  had 
been  charged  to  get  the  boat  ready,  and  who 
explained  to  me  it  would  be  at  least  an  hour 
before  the  steam  was  up;  and  whilst  I  wag 
waiting  in  the  porch  I  heard  many  Virginian, 
and  old  world  stories  as  well,  the  general  up 
shot  of  which  was  that  all  the  rest  of  the  world 
could  be  "done"  at  cards,  in  love,  in  drink,  in 
horseflesh,  and  in  fighting,  by  the  true-born 
American.  Gen.  Butler  came  down  after  a 
time,  and  joined  our  little  society,  nor  was  he 
~by  any  means  the  least  shrewd  and  humorous 
raconteur  of  the  party.  At  11  o'clock  the  Eliza 
beth  uttered  some  piercing  cries,  which  indi 
cated  she  had  her  steam  up ;  and  so  I  walked 
down  to  the  jetty,  accompanied  by  my  host  and 
his  friends,  and  wishing  them  good  bye,  stepped 
on  board  the  little  vessel,  arid  with  the  aid  of 
the  negro  cook,  steward,  butler,  boots,  and  ser 
vant,  roused  out  the  captain  from  a  small 
wooden  trench  which  he  claimed  as  his  berth, 
turned  into  it,  and  fell  asleep  just  as  the  first 
difficult  convulsions  of  the  screw  aroused  the 
steamer  from  her  coma,  and  forced  her  languid 
ly  against  the  tide  in  the  direction  of  Balti 
more. 

July  15th. — I  need  not  speak  much  of  the 
events  of  last  night,  which  were  not  unimpor 
tant,  perhaps,  to  some  of  the  insects  which 
played  a  leading  part  in  them.  The  heat  was 
literally  overpowering;  for  in  addition  to  the 
hot  night  there  was  the  full  power  of  most 
irritable  boilers  close  at  hand  to  aggravate  the 
natural  desagremens  of  the  situation.  About  an 
hour  after  dawn,  when  I  turned  out  on  deck, 
there  was  nothing  visible  but  a  warm  grey 
mist ;  but  a  knotty  old  pilot  on  deck  told  me 
we  were  only  going  six  knots  an  hour  against 
tide  and  wind,  and  that  we  were  likely  to  make 
less  way  as  the  day  wore  on.  In  fact,  instead 
of  being  near  Baltimore,  we  were  much  nearer 
Fortress  Monroe.  Need  I  repeat  the  horrors  of 
this  day  ?  Stewed,  boiled,  baked,  and  grilled 
on  board  this  miserable  Elizabeth,  I  wished  M. 
Montalembert  could  have  experienced  with  m 
what  such  an  impassive  nature  could  inflict  in 
misery  on  those  around  it.  The  captain  was  a 
shy,  silent  man,  much  given  to  short  naps  in 
my  temporary  berth,  and  the  mate  was  so  wild, 
he  might  have  swam  off  with  perfect  propriety 
to  the  woods  on  either  side  of  us,  and  taken  to 


*  It  may  be  stated  here,  that  this  expedition  met  with  him,  were  killed  by  the  cavalry  whom  he  meant  to  sur- 
ft  disastrous  result.  If  I  mistake  not,  the  offic«r,  and  prise,  and  several  of  the  volunteers  were  also  killed  01 
with  bim  the  correspondent  of  a  paper  who  accompanied  wounded. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


157 


a  tree  as  an  aborigen  or  chimpanzee.  Two  men 
of  most  retiring  habits,  the  negro,  a  black  boy, 
and  a  very  fat  negress  who  officiated  as  cook, 
filled  up  the  "balance"  of  the  crew. 

I  could  not  write,  for  the  vibration  of  the 
deck  of  the  little  craft  gave  a  St.  Vitus  dance 
to  pen  and  pencil ;  reading  was  out  of  the 
question  from  the  heat  and  flies ;  and  below 
stairs  the  fat  cook  banished  repose  by  vapours 
from  her  dreadful  caldi-ons,  where,  Medea-like, 
she  was  boiling  some  death  broth.  Our  break 
fast  was  of  the  simplest  and — may  I  add? — the 
least  enticing  ;  and  if  the  dinner  could  have 
been  worse  it  was  so ;  though  it  was  rendered 
attractive  by  hunger,  and  by  the  kindness  of 
the  sailors  who  shared  it  with  me.  The  old 
pilot  had  a  most  wholesome  hatred  of  the 
Britishers,  and  not  having  the  least  idea  till 
late  in  the  day  that  I  belonged  to  the  old  coun- 
try,  favoured  me  with  some  very  remarkable 
views  respecting  their  general  mischievousness 
and  inutility.  As  soon  as  he  found  out  my 
secret  he  became  more  reserved,  and  explained 
tome  that  he  had  some  reason  for  not  liking  us, 
because  all  he  had  in  the  world,  as  pretty  a 
schooner  as  ever  floated  and  a  fine  cargo,  had 
been  taken  and  burnt  by  the  English  when  they 
sailed  up  the  Potomac  to  Washington.  He 
served  against  us  at  Bladensburg.  I  did  not 
ask  him  how  fast  he  ran ;  but  he  had  a  good 
rejoinder  ready  if  I  had  done  so,  inasmuch  as 
he  was  up  West  under  Commodore  Perry  on 
the  lakes  when  we  suffered  our  most  serious 
reverses.  Six  knots  an  hour!  hour  after  hour ! 
And  nothing  to  do  but  to  listen  to  the  pilot. 

On  both  sides  a  line  of  forest  just  visible 
above  the  low  shores.  Small  coasting  craft, 
schooners,  pungys,  boats  laden  with  wood  creep 
ing  along  in  the  shallow  water,  or  plying  down 
empty  before  wind  and  tide. 

"  I  doubt  if  we'll  be  able  to  catch  up  them 
forts  afore  night,"  said  the  skipper.  The  pilot 

grunted,  "  I  rather  think  yu'll  not."  "  H 

and  thunder !  Then  we'll  have  to  lie  off  till 
daylight?"  "They  may  let  you  pass,  Captain 
Squires,  as  you've  this  Europe-an  on  board,  but 
anyhow  we  can't  fetch  Baltimore  till  late  at 
night  or  early  in  the  morning." 

I  heard  the  dialogue,  and  decided  very 
quickly  that  as  Annapolis  lay  somewhere  ahead 
on  our  left,  and  was  much  nearer  than  Balti 
more,  it  would  be  best  to  run  for  it  while  there 
was  daylight.  The  captain  demurred.  He  had 
been  ordered  to  take  his  vessel  to  Baltimore, 
and  General  Butler  might  come  down  on  him 
for  not  doing  so ;  but  I  proposed  to  sign  a  lettej 
stating  he  had  gone  to  Annapolis  at  iny  request, 
and  the  steamer  was  put  a  point  or  two  to 
westward,  much  to  the  pleasure  of  the  Palinu- 
rus,  whose  "  old  woman"  lived  in  the  town.  I 
had  an  affection  for  this  weather-beaten,  watery- 
eyed,  honest  old  fellow,  who  hated  us  as  cordial 
ly  as  Jack  detested  his  Frenchman  in  the  old 
days  before  ententes  cordiales  were  known  to 
the  world.  He  was  thoroughly  English  in  his 
belief  that  he  belonged  to  the  only  sailor  race 
in  the  world,  and  that  they  could  beat  all  man 
kind  in  seamanship  ;  and  he  spoke  in  the  most 
unaffected  way  of  the  Britishers  as  a  survivor 
of  the  old  war  might  do  of  Johnny  Crapaud — 
"They  were  brave  enough  no  doubt,  but,  Lord 
bless  you,  see  them  in  a  gale  of  wind!  or  look 


at  them  sending  down  top-gallant  masts,  or  any 
thing  sailor-like  in  a  breeze.  Youd  soon  see 
the  differ.  And,  besides,  they  never  can  staud 
again  us  at  close  quarters."  By-and-by  the 
houses  of  a  considerable  town,  crowned  by 
steeples*  and  a  large  Corinthian-looking  build 
ing,  came  in  view.  "That's  the  State  House. 
That's  where  George  Washington — first  in  peace, 
first  in  war,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen — laid  down  his  victorious  sword 
without  any  one  asking  him,  and  retired  amid 
the  applause  of  the  civilized  world."  This 
flight  I  am  sure  was  the  old  man's  treasured 
relic  of  school-boy  days,  and  I'm  not  sure  ha 
did  not  give  it  to  me  three  times  over.  An 
napolis  looks  very  well  from  the  river  side. 
The  approach  is  guarded  by  some  very  poor 
earthworks  and  one  small  fort.  A  dismantled 
sloop  of  war  lay  off  a  sea  wall,  banking  up  a 
green  lawn  covered  with  trees,  in  front  of  an 
old-fashioned  pile  of  buildings,  which  formerly, 
I  think,  and  very  recently  indeed,  was  occupied 
by  the  cadets  of  the  United  States  Naval  School. 
"There  was  a  lot  of  them  seceders.  Lord  bless 
you!  these  young  ones  is  all  took  by  these 
States  Rights'  doctrines — just  as  the  ladies  is 
caught  by  a  new  fashion." 

About  seven  o'clock  the  steamer  hove  along 
side  a  wooden  pier  which  was  quite  deserted. 
Only  some  ten  or  twelve  sailing  boats,  yachts, 
and  schooners  lay  at  anchor  in  the  placid 
waters  of  the  port  which  was  once  the  capital 
of  Maryland,  and  for  which  the  early  Republi 
cans  prophesied  a  great  future.  But  Baltimore 
has  eclipsed  Annapolis  into  utter  obscurity.  I 
walked  to  the  only  hotel  in  the  place,  and  found 
that  the  train  for  the  junction  with  Washington 
had  started,  and  that  the  next  train  left  at  some 
impossible  hour  in  the  morning.  It  is  an  odd 
Rip  Van  Winkle  sort  of  a  place.  Quaint-look 
ing  boarders  came  down  to  the  tea-table  and 
talked  Secession,  and  when  I  was  detected,  as 
must  ever  soon  be  the  case,  owing  to  the  hotel 
book,  I  was  treated  to  some  ill-favoured  glances, 
as  my  recent  letters  have  been  denounced  in 
the  strongest  way  for  their  supposed  hostility 
to  States  Rights  and  the  Domestic  Institution. 
The  spirit  of  the  people  has,  however,  been 
broken  by  the  Federal  occupation,  and  by  the 
decision  with  which  Butler  acted  when  he  came 
down  here  with  the  troops  to  open  communica 
tions  with  Washington  after  the  Baltimoreans 
had  attacked  the  soldiery  on  their  way  through 
the  city  from  the  north. 


CHAPTER  XLYIII. 

The  "  State  House"  at  Annapolis — "Washington  -Gene 
ral  Scott's  quarters — "Want  of  a  staff— Eival  camps — 
Demand  for  horses — Popular  excitement — Lord  Lyons 
— General  M  Dowell's  movements — Ketreat  from  Fair 
fax  Court  House— General  Scott'a  quarters — General 
Mansfield— Battle  of  Bull's  Kun. 

July  16th. — I  baffled  many  curious  and  civil 
citizens  by  breakfasting  in  my  room,  where  I 
remained  writing  till  late  in  the  day.  In  the 
afternoon  I  walked  to  the  State  House.  The 
hall  door  was  open,  but  the  rooms  were  closed 
and  I  remained  in  the  hall,  which  is  graced  bj 
two  indifferent  huge  statues  of  Law  and  Justice 
holding  gas  lamps,  and  by  an  old  rusty  cannon, 
dug  out  of  the  river,  and  supposed  to  have 


,58 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


belonged  to  the  original  British  colonists,  whilst 
an  officer  whom  I  met  in  the  portico  went  to 
look  for  the  porter  and  the  keys.  Whether  he 
succeeded  I  cannot  say,  for  after  waiting  some 
half  hour  I  was  warned  by  my  watch,  that  it 
was  time  to  get  ready  for  the  train,  which 
started  at  4.15  P.M.  The  country  through 
which  the  single  line  of  rail  passes  is  very 
hilly,  much  wooded,  little  cultivated,  cut  up 
by  water-courses  and  ravines.  At  the  junction 
with  the  Washington  line  from  Baltimore  there 
is  a  strong  guard  thrown  out  from  the  camp 
near  at  hand.  The  officers,  who  had  a  mess  in 
a  little  wayside  inn  on  the  line,  invited  me  to 
rest  till  the  train  came  up,  and  from  them  I 
heard  that  an  advance  had  been  actually  order 
ed,  and  that  if  the  "  rebels"  stood  there  would 
soon  be  a  tall  fight  close  to  Washington.  They 
were  very  cheery,  hospitable  fellows,  and  en 
joyed  their  new  mode  of  life  amazingly.  The 
nien  of  the  regiment  to  which  they  belonged 
were  Germans,  almost  to  a  man.  When  the 
train  came  in  I  found  it  was  full  of  soldiers, 
and  I  learned  that  three  more  heavy  trains 
were  to  follow,  in  addition  to  four  which  had 
already  passed  laden  with  troops. 

On  arriving  at  the  Washington  platform,  the 
first  person  I  saw  was  General  M'Dowell  alone, 
looking  anxiously  into  the  carriages.  He  asked 
where  I  came  from,  and  when  he  heard  from 
Annapolis,  inquired  eagerly  if  I  had  seen  two 
batteries  of  artillery — Barry's  and  another — 
which  he  had  ordered  up,  and  was  waiting  for, 
but  which  had  "  gone  astray."  I  was  surprised 
to  find  the  General  engaged  on  such  duty,  and 
took  leave  to  say  so.  "  Well,  it  is  quite  true, 
Mr.  Russell ;  but  I  am  obliged  to  look  after 
them  myself,  as  I  have  so  small  a  staff,  and 
they  are  all  engaged  out  with  my  head-quar 
ters.  You  are  aware  I  have  advanced  ?  No ! 
Well,  you  have  just  come  in  time,  and  I  shall 
be  happy,  indeed,  to  take  you  with  me.  I 
have  made  arrangements  for  the  correspondents 
of  our  papers  to  take  the  field  under  certain 
regulations,  and  I  have  suggested  to  them  they 
should  wear  a  white  uniform,  to  indicate  the 
purity  of  their  character."  The  General  could 
hear  nothing  of  his  guns ;  his  carriage  was 
waiting,  and  I  accepted  his  offer  of  a  seat  to 
my  lodgings.  Although  he  spoke  confidently, 
he  did  not  seem  in  good  spirits.  There  was 
the  greatest  difficulty  in  finding  out  anything 
about  the  enemy.  Beauregard  was  said  to 
have  advanced  to  Fairfax  Court  House,  but  he 
could  not  get  any  certain  knowledge  of  the 
fact.  "Can  you  not  order  a  reconnaissance?" 
"  Wait  till  you  see  the  country.  But  even  if 
it  were  as  flat  as  Flanders,  I  have  not  an  officer 
on  whom  I  could  depend  for  the  work.  They 
would  fall  into  some  trap,  or  bring  on  a  general 
engagement  when  I  did  not  seek  it  or  desire  it. 
I  have  no  cavalry  such  as  you  work  with  in 
Europe."  I  think  he  was  not  so  much  disposed 
to  undervalue  the  Confederates  as  before,  for 
he  said  they  had  selected  a  very  strong  posi 
tion,  and  had  made  a  regular  levee  en  masse  of 
the  people  of  Virginia,  as  a  proof  of  the  energy 
and  determination  with  which  they  were  enter 
ing  on  the  campaign. 

As  we  parted  the  General  gave  me  his  photo 
graph,  and  told  me  he  expected  to  see  me  in  a 
few  days  at  his  quarters,  but  that  I  would  have 


plenty  of  time  to  get  horses  and*  servants,  and 
such  light  equipage  as  I  wanted,  as  there  would 
be  no  engagement  for  several  days.  On  arriv 
ing  at  rny  lodgings  I  sent  to  the  livery  stables 
to  inquire  after  horses.  None  fit  for  the  saddle 
to  be  had  at  any  price.  The  sutlers,  the  caval 
ry,  .the  mounted  officers,  had  been  purchasing 
up  all  the  droves  of  horses  which  came  to  the 
markets.  M'Dowell  had  barely  extra  mounts 
for  his  own  use.  And  yet  horses  must  be  had ; 
and,  even  provided  with  them,  I  must  take  the 
field  without  tent  or  servant,  canteen  or  food 
— a  waif  to  fortune. 

July  l^lth. — I  went  up  to  General  Scott's 
quarters,  and  saw  some  of  his  staff — young 
men,  some  of  whom  knew  nothing  of  soldiers, 
not  even  the  enforcing  of  drill — and  found  them 
reflecting,  doubtless,  the  shades  which  cross  the 
mind  of  the  old  chief,  who  was  now  seeking 
repose.  M'Dowell  is  to  advance  to-morrow 
from  Fairfax  Court  House,  and  will  march  some 
eight  or  ten  miles  to  Centreville,  directly  in 
front  of  which,  at  a  place  called  Manassas, 
stands  the  army  of  the  Southern  enemy.  I  look 
around  me  for  a  staff,  and  look  in  vain.  There 
are  a  few  plodding  old  pedants,  with  map  and 
rules  and  compasses,  who  sit  in  small  rooms 
and  write  memoranda;  and  there  are  some 
ignorant  and  not  very  active  young  men,  who 
loiter  about  the  head-quarters'  halls,  and  strut 
up  the  street  with  brass  spurs  on  their  heels 
and  kepis  raked  over  their  eyes  as  though  they 
were  soldiers,  but  I  see  no  system,  no  order, 
no  knowledge,  no  dash! 

\_/The  worst-served  English  general  has  always 
a  young  fellow  or  two  about  him  who  can  fly 
across  country,  draw  a  rough  sketch  map,  ride 
like  a  foxhunte  •,  and  iind  something  out  about 
the  enemy  and  their  position,  understand  and 
convey  orders,  and  obey  them.  I  look  about 
for  the  types  of  these  in  vain.  M'Dowell  can 
find  out  nothing  about  the  enemy  ;  he  has  not 
a  trustworthy  map  of  the  country ;  no  know 
ledge  of  their  position,  force,  or  numbers.  All 
the  people,  he  srtys,  are  against  the  Govern 
ment.  Fairfax  Court  House  was  abandoned  as 
he  approached,  the  ene.ny  in  their  retreat 
being  followed  by  the  inhabitants.  "  Where 
were  the  Confederate  entrenchments  ?"  "  Only 
in  the  imagination  of  those  New  York  news 
papers  ;  when  they  want  to  fill  up  a  column 
they  write  a  full  account  of  the  enemy's  fortfi- 
cations.  No  one  can  contradict  them  at  the 
time,  and  it's  a  good  joke  when  it's  found  out 
to  be  a  lie."  Colonel  Cullum  went  over  the 
maps  with  me  at  General  Scott's,  and  spoke 
with  some  greater  confidence  of  M'Dowell's 
prospects  of  success.  There  is  a  considerable 
force  of  Confederates  at  a  place  called  Win 
chester,  which  is  connected  with  Manassas  by 
rail,  and  this  force  could  be  thrown  on  the 
right  of  the  Federals  as  they  advanced,  but 
that  another  corps,  under  Patterson,  is  in  ob 
servation,  with  orders  to  engage  them  if  they 
attempt  to  move  eastwards. 

The  batteries  for  which  General  M'Dowell 
was  looking  last  night  have  arrived,  and  were 
sent  on  this  morning.  One  is  under  Barry,  of 
the  United  States  regular  artillery,  whom  I  met 
at  Fort  Pickens.  The  other  is  a  volunteer  bat 
tery.  The  onward  movement  of  the  army  had 
been  productive  of  a  great  improvement  in  the 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


159 


streets  of  Washington,  which  are  no  longer 
crowded  with  turbulent  and  disorderly  volun 
teers,  or  by  soldiers  disgracing  the  name,  who 
accost  you  in  the  by-ways  for  money.  There 
aro  comparatively  few  to-day  ;  small  shoals, 
which  have  escaped  the  meshes  of  the  net,  are 
endeavouring  to  make  the  most  of  their  time 
before  they  cross  the  river  to  face  the  enemy. 

Still  horse-lmnting,  but  in  vain — Gregson, 
Wroe — et  hoc  genus  omne.  Nothing  to  sell 
except  at  unheard-of  rates ;  tripeds,  and  the 
like,  much  the  worse  for  wear,  and  yet  pos 
sessed  of  some  occult  virtues,  in  right  of  which 
the  owners  demanded  egregious  sums.  Every 
where  I  am  offered  a  gig  or  a  vehicle  of  some 
kind  or  another,  as  if  the  example  of  General 
Scott  had  rendered  such  a  mode  of  campaign 
ing  the  correct  thing.  I  saw  many  officers 
driving  over  the  Long  Bridge  with  large  stores 
of  provisions,  either  unable  to  procure  horses 
or  satisfied  that  a  waggon  was  the  chariot  of 
Mars.  It  is  not  fair  to  ridicule  either  officers 
or  men  of  this  army,  and  if  they  were  not  so 
inflated  by  a  pestilent  vanity,  no  one  would 
dream  of  doing  so  ;  but  the  excessive  bragging 
and  boasting  in  which  the  volunteers  and  the 
press  indulge  really  provoke  criticism  and  tax 
patience  and  forbearance  overmuch.  Even  the 
regular  officers,  who  have  some  idea  of  military 
efficiency,  rather  derived  from  education  and 
foreign  travels  than  from  actual  experience, 
bristle  up  and  talk  proudly  of  the  patriotism  of 
the  army,  and  challenge  the  world  to  show 
such  another,  although  in  their  hearts,  and 
more,  with  their  lips,  they  own  they  do  not 
depend  on  them.  The  white  heat  of  patriot 
ism  has  cooled  down  to  a  dull  black ;  and  I  am 
told  that  the  gallant  volunteers,  who  are  to 
conquer  the  world  when  they  "  have  got 
through  with  their  present  little  job,"  are 
counting  up  the  days  to  the  end  of  their  ser 
vice,  and  openly  declare  they  will  not  stay  a 
day  longer.  This  is  pleasant,  inasmuch  as  the 
end  of  the  term  of  many  of  M'Dowell's,  and 
most  of  Patterson's,  three  months'  men,  is  near 
at  hand.  They  have  been  faring  luxuriously 
at  the  expense  of  the  Government — they  have 
had  nothing  to  do — they  have  had  enormous 
pay — they  knew  nothing,  and  were  worthless 
as  to  soldiering  when  they  were  enrolled. 
Now,  having  gained  all  these  advantages,  and 
being  likely  to  be  of  use  for  the  first  time,  they 
very  quietly  declare  they  are  going  to  sit  under 
their  fig-trees,  crowned  with  civic  laurels  and 
myrtles,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  But  who 
dare  say  they  are  not  splendid  fellows — full- 
blooded  heroes,  patriots,  and  warriors — men 
before  whose  majestic  presence  all  Europe  pales 
and  faints  away  ? 

In  the  evening  I  received  a  message  to  say 
that  the  advance  of  the  army  would  take  place 
to-morrow  as  soon  as  General  M'Dowell  had 
satisfied  himself  by  a  reconnaissance  that  he 
could  carry  out  his  plan  of  turning  the  right 
of  the  enemy  by  passing  Occaguna  Creek. 
Along  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  along  the  various 
shops,  hotels,  and  drinking-bars,  groups  of  peo 
ple  were  collected,  listening  to  the  most  exag 
gerated  accounts  of  desperate  fighting  and  of 
the  utter  demoralisation  of  the  rebels.  I  was 
rather  amused  by  hearing  the  florid  accounts 
which  were  given  «n  the  hall  of  Willard'a  b} 


various  inebriated  officers,  who  were  drawing 
upon  their  imagination  for  their  facts,  knowing, 
as  I  did,  that  the  entrenchments  at  Fairfax 
had  been  abandoned  without  a  shot  on  the  ad 
vance  of  the  Federal  troops.  The  New  York 
papers  came  in  with  glowing  descriptions  oi 
the  magnificent  march  of  the  grand  army  of 
the  Potomac,  which  was  stated  to  consist  of 
upwards  of  70,000  men;  whereas  I  knew  not 
half  that  number  were  actually  on  the  field. 
Multitudes  of  people  believe  General  Winfield 
Scott,  who  was  now  fast  asleep  in  his  modest 
bed  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  is  about  to  take 
the  field  in  person.  The  horse-dealers  are  still 
utterly  impracticable.  A  citizen  who  owned  a 
dark  bay,  spavine.d  and  ringboned,  asked  me 
one  thousand  dollars  for  the  right  of  posses 
sion.  I  ventured  to  suggest  that  it  was  not 
worth  the  money.  "  Well,"  said  he,  "  take  it 
or  leave  it.  If  you  want  to  see  this  fight  a 
thousand  dollars  is  cheap.  I  guess  there  were 
chaps  paid  more  than  that  to  see  Jenny  Lind 
on  her  first  night ;  and  this  battle  is  not  going 
to  be  repealed,  I  can  tell  you.  The  price  of 
horses  will  rise  when  the  chaps  out  there  have 
had  themselves  pretty  well  used  up  with  bowie- 
knives  and  six-shooters." 

July  18th. — After  breakfast.  Leaving  head 
quarters,  I  went  across  to  General  Mansfield's, 
and  was  going  upstairs,  when  the  General* 
himself,  a  white-headed,  grey«bearded,  and 
rather  soldierly-looking  man,  dashed  out  of  his 
room  in  some  excitement,  and  exclaimed,  "  Mr. 
Russell,  I  fear  there  is  bad  news  from  the 
front."  "Are  theyfighting,  General?"  "Yes, 
sir.  That  fellow  Tyler  has  been  engaged,  and 
we  are  whipped."  Again  I  went  off  to  the 
horse-dealer ;  but  this  time  the  price  of  the 
steed  had  beenlraised  to  £220  ;  "  for,"  says  he, 
"  I  don't  want  my  animals  to  be  ripped  up  by 
them  cannon  and  them  musketry,  and  those 
who  wish  to  be  guilty  of  such  cruelty  must 
pay  for  it."  At  the  War  Office,  at  the  Depart 
ment  of  State,  at  the  Senate,  and  at  the  White 
House,  messengers  and  orderlies  running  in  and 
out,  military  aides,  and  civilians  with  anxious 
faces,  betokeneu  the  activity  and  perturbation 
which  reigned  within.  I  met  Senator  Sumner 
radiant  with  joy.  "  We  have  obtained  a  great 
success  ;  the  rebels  are  falling  back  in  all  direc 
tions.  General  Scott  says  we  ought  to  be  in 
Richmond  by  Saturday  night."  Soon  after 
wards  a  United  States  officer,  who  had  visited 
me  in  company  with  General  Meigs,  riding 
rapidly  past,  called  out,  "  You  have  heard  we 
are  whipped  ;  these  confounded  volunteers  have 
run  away."  I  drove  to  the  Capitol,  where 
people  said  one  could  actually  see  the  smoke  of 
the  cannon  ;  but  on  arriving  there  it  was  evi 
dent  that  the  fire  from  some  burning  houses, 
and  from  wood  cut  down  for  cooking  purposes, 
had  been  mistaken  for  tokens  of  the  fight. 

It  was  strange  to  stand  outside  the  walls  of 
the  Senate  whilst  legislators  were  debating  in 
side  respecting  the  best  means  of  punishing  the 
rebels  and  traitors,  and  to  think  that  amidst 
the  dim  horizon  of  woods  which  bounded  the 
west  towards  the  plains  of  Manassas,  the  army 
of  the  United  States  wa,-  then  contending,  at 
least  with  doubtful  fortune,  against  the  forces 

*Sincekilk.|  inhctioi» 


160 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


of  the  desperate  and  hopeless  outlaws  whose 
fate  these  United  States  senators  pretended  to 
hold  in  the  hollow  of  their  hands.  Nor  was  it 
unworthy  of  note  that  many  of  the  tradespeo 
ple  along  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  and  the  ladies 
whom  one  saw  sauntering  in  the  streets,  were 
exchanging  significant  nods  and  smiles,  and  rub 
bing  their  hands  with  satisfaction.  I  entered 
one  shop,  where  the  proprietor  and  his  wife  ran 
forward  to  meet  me.  "Have  you  heard  the 
news  ?  Beauregard  has  knocked  them  into  a 
cocked  hat."  "  Believe  me,"  said  the  good 
lady,  "  it  is  the  finger  of  the  Almighty  is  in  it. 
Didn't  he  curse  the  niggers,  and  why  should  he 
take  their  part  now  with  these  Yankee  Aboli 
tionists,  against  true  white  men?"  "But  how 
do  you  know  this  ?"  said  I.  "  Why,  it's  all 
true  enough,  depend  upon  it,  no  matter  how 
we  know  it.  We've  got  our  underground  rail 
way  as  well  as  the  Abolitionists." 

On  my  way  to  dinner  at  the  Legation  I  met 
the  President  crossing  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
striding  like  a  "crane  in  a  bulrush  swamp  among 
the  great  blocks  of  marble,  dressed  in  an  oddly 
cut  suit  of  grey,  with  a  felt  hat  on  the  back  of 
his  head,  wiping  his  face  with  a  red-pocket- 
handkerchief.  He  was  evidently  in  a  hurry, 
on  his  way  to  the  White  House,  where  I  believe 
a  telegraph  has  been  established  in  communica 
tion  with  M'Dowell's  head-quarters.  I  may 
mention,  by-the-bye,  in  illustration  of  the  ex 
treme  ignorance  and  arrogance  which  charac 
terise  the  low  Yankee,  that  a  man  in  the  uni 
form  of  a  Colonel  said  to  me  to-day,  as  I  was 
leaving  the  War  Department,  "They  have  just 
got  a  telegraph  from  M'Dowell.  Would  it  not 
astonish  you  Britishers  to  hear  that,  as  our 
General  moves  on  towards  the  enemy,  he  trails 
a  telegraph  wire  behind  him  just  to  let  them 
know  in  Washington  which  foot  he  is  putting 
first  ?"  I  was  imprudent  enough  to  say,  "  I 
assure  you  the  use  of  the  telegraph  is  not  such 
a  novelty  in  Europe  or  even  in  India.  When 
Lord  Clyde  made  his  campaign  the  telegraph 
was  laid  in  his  track  as  fast  as  he  advanced." 
"Oh7  well,  come  now,"  quoth^the  Colonel, 
"that's  pretty  good,  that  is;  Inoelieve  you'll 
say  next,  your  General  Clyde  and  our  Benjamin 
Franklin  discovered  lightning  simultaneously." 

The  calm  of  a  Legation  contrasts  wonder 
fully  in  troubled  times  with  the  excitement  and 
storm  of  the  world  outside.  M.  Mercier  per 
haps  is  moved  to  a  vivacious  interest  in  events. 
M.  Stoeckl  becomes  more  animated  as  the  time 
approaches  when  he  sees  the  fulfilment  of  his 
prophecies  at  hand.  M.  Tassara  cannot  be  in 
different  to  occurrences  which  bear  so  directly 
on  the  future  of  Spain  in  Western  seas  ;  but  all 
these  diplomatists  can  discuss  the  most  engross 
ing  and  portentous  incidents  of  political  and 
military  life,  with  a  sense  of  calm  and  indif 
ference  which  was  felt  by  the  gentleman  who 
resented  being  called  out  of  his  sleep  to  get  up 
out  of  a  burning  house  because  he  was  only  a 
lodger.  * 

There  is  no  Minister  of  the  European  Powers 
iu  Washington  who  watches  with  so  much  in 
terest  the  march  of  events  as  Lord  Lyons,  or 
who  feels  as  much  sympathy  perhaps  in  the 
Federal  Government  as  the  constituted  Execu 
tive  of  the  country  to  which  he  is  accredited ; 
but  in  virtue  of  his  position  he  knows  little  or 


nothing  officially  of  what  passes  around  him 
and  may  be  regarded  as  a  medium  for  the  com 
munication  of  despatches  to  Mr.  Seward.  and 
for  the  discharge  of  a  great  deal  of  most  cause 
less  and  unmeaning  vituperation  from  the  con 
ductors  of  the  New  York  press  against  Eng 
land. 

On  my  return  to  Captain  Johnson's  lodgings 
I  received  a  note  from  the  head-quarters  of  the 
Federals,  stating  that  the  serious  action  be 
tween  the  two  armies  would  probably  be  post 
poned  for  some  days.  M'Dowell's  original  idea 
was  to  avoid  forcing  the  enemy's  position 
directly  in  front,  which  was  defended  by  mov 
able  batteries  commanding  the  fords  over  a 
stream  called  "  Bull's  Run."  He  therefore  pro 
posed  to  make  a  demonstration  on  some  point 
near  the  centre  of  their  line,  and  at  the  same 
time  throw  the  mass  of  his  force  below  their 
extreme  right,  so  as  to  turn  it  and  get  posses 
sion  of  the  Manassas  Railway  in  their  rear :  a 
movement  which  would  separate  him,  by-the- 
bye,  from  his  own  communications,  and  enable 
any  general  worth  his  salt  to  make  a  magnifi 
cent  counter  by  marching  on  Washington,  only 
21  miles  away,  which  he  could  take  with  the 
greatest  ease,  and  leave  the  enemy  in  the  rear 
to  march  120  miles  to  Richmond,  if  they  dared, 
or  to  make  a  hasty  retreat  upon  the  higher 
Potomac,  and  to  cross  into  the  hostile  country 
of  Maryland. 

M'Dowell,  however,  has  found  the  country 
on  his  left  densely  wooded  and  difficult.  It  is 
as  new  to  him  as  it  was  to  Braddock,  when  he 
cut  his  weary  way  through  forest  and  swamp 
in  this  very  district  to  reach,  hundreds  of  miles 
away,  the  scene  of  his  fatal  repulse  at  Fort  Du 
Quesne.  And  so,  having  moved  his  wholo 
army,  M'Dowell  finds  himself  obliged  to  form  a 
new  plan  of  attack,  and,  prudently  fearful  of 
pushing  his  under-done  and  over-praised  levies 
into  a  river  in  face  of  an  enemy,  is  endeavour 
ing  to  ascertain  with  what  chance  of  success  he 
can  attack  and  turn  their  left. 

Whilst  he  was  engaged  in  a  reconnaissance 
to-day,  General  Tyler  did  one  of  those  things 
which  must  be  expected  from  ambitious  officers, 
without  any  fear  of  punishment,  in  countries 
where  military  discipline  is  scarcely  known. 
Ordered  to  reconnoitre  the  position  of  the  ene 
my  on  the  left  front,  when  the  army  moved 
from  Fairfax  to  Centreville  this  morning,  Gene 
ral  T}Tler  thrust  forward  some  3000  or  4000  men 
of  his  division  down  to  the  very  banks  of 
"  Bull's  Run,"  which  was  said  to  be  thickly 
wooded,  and  there  brought  up  his  men  under  a 
heavy  fire  of  artillery  and  musketry,  from 
which* they  retired  in  confusion. 

The  papers  from  New  York  to-night  are  more 
than  usually  impudent  and  amusing.  The  re 
treat  of  the  Confederate  outposts  from  Fairfax 
Court  House  is  represented  as  a  most  extraor 
dinary  success;  at  best  it  was  an  affair  of  out 
posts;  but  one  would  really  think  that  it  was 
a  victory  of  no  small  magnitude.  I  learn  tha» 
the  Federal  troops  behaved  in  a  most  ruffianly 
and  lawless  manner  at  Fairfax  Court  House.  It 
is  but  a  bad  beginning  of  a  campaign  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Union,  to  rob,  burn,  and  de 
stroy  the  property  and  houses  of  the  people  in 
the  State  of  Virginia.  The  enemy  are  described 
as  running  in  all  directions^  but  it  is  evident 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


.  f> 


they  did  not  intend  to  defend  the  advanced 
works,  which  were  merely  constructed  to  pre 
vent  surprise  or  cavalry  inroads. 

I  went  to  Willard's,  where  the  news  of  the 
battle,  as  it  was  called,  was  eagerly  discussed. 
One  little  man  in  front  of  the  cigar-stand  de 
clared  it  was  all  an  affair  of  cavalry.  "  But 
how  could  that  be  among  the  piney  woods  and 
with  a  river  in  front,  major?"  "  Our  boys,  sir, 
left  their  horses,  crossed  the  water  at  a  run, 
and  went  right  away  through  them  with  their 
swords  and  six-shooters."  "  I  tell  you  what  it 
is,  Mr.  Russell,"  said  a  man  who  followed  me 
out  of  the  crowd  and  placed  his  hand  on  my 
shoulder,  "  they  we're  whipped  like  curs,  and 
they  ran  like  curs,  and  I  know  it."  "How?" 
"  Well,  I'd  rather  be  excused  telling  you." 

July  IQth. — I  rose  early  this  morning  in 
order  to  prepare  for  contingencies  and  to  see 
off  Captain  Johnson,  who  was  about  to  start 
with  despatches  for  New  York,  containing,  no 
doubt,  the  intelligence  that  the  Federal  troops 
had  advanced  against  the  enemy.  Yesterday 
was  so  hot  that  officers  and  men  on  the  field 
suffered  from  something  like  sun-stroke.  To 
unaccustomed  frames  to-day  the  heat  felt  un- 
supportable.  A  troop  of  regular  cavalry,  rid 
ing  through  the  street  at  an  early  hour,  were 
so  exhausted,  horse  and  man,  that  a  runaway 
cab  could  have  bowled  them  over  like  nine 
pins 

I  hastened  to  General  Scott's  quarters,  which 
were  besieged  by  civilians  outside  and  full  of 
orderlies  and  officers  within.  Mr.  Cobden 
would  be  delighted  with  the  republican  sim 
plicity  of  the  Commander-in-Chiefs  establish 
ment,  though  it  did  not  strike  me  as  being  very 
cheap  at  the  money  on  such  an  occasion.  It 
consists,  in  fact,  of  a  small  three-storied  brick 
house,  the  parlours  on  the  ground  floor  being 
occupied  by  subordinates,  the  small  front  room 
on  the  first  floor  being  appropriated  to  General 
Scott  himself,  the  smaller  back  room  being  de 
voted  to  his  staff,  and  two  rooms  up-stairs  most 
probably  being  in  possession  of  waste  papers 
and  the  guardians  of  the  mansion.  The  walls 
are  covered  with  maps  of  the  coarsest  descrip 
tion  and  with  rough  plans  and  drawings,  which 
afford  information  and  amusement  to  the  order 
lies  and  the  stray  aide-de-camps.  "  Did  you 
ever  hear  anything  so  disgraceful  in  your  life 
as  the  stories  which  are  going  about  of  the 
affair  yesterday  ?"  said  Colonel  Cullum.  "  I 
assure  you  it  was  the  smallest  affair  possible, 
although  the  story  goes  that  we  have  lost 
thousands  of  men.  Our  total  loss  is  under 
ninety — killed,  wounded,  and  missing;  and  I 
regret  to  say  nearly  one-third  of  the  whole  are 
under  the  latter  head."  "  However  that  may 
be,  Colonel,"  said  I,  "it  will  be  difficult  to  be 
lieve  your  statement  after  the  columns  of  type 
which  appear  in  the  papers  here."  "Oh! 
Who  minds  what  they  say  ?"  "  You  will  ad 
mit,  at  any  rate,  that  the  retreat  of  these  un 
disciplined  troops  from  an  encounter  with  the 
enemy  will  have  a  bad  effect  ?"  "  Well,  I  sup 
pose  that's  likely  enough,  but  it  will  soon  be 
jwept  away  in  the  excite'ment  of  a  general 
advance.  General  Scott,  having  determined  to 
attack  the  enemy,  will  not  halt  now,  and  I  am 
going  over  to  Brigadier  M'Dowell  to  examine 
the  ground  and  see  what  is  best  to  be  dons." 


On  leaving  the  room  two  officers  came  out  of 
General  Scott's  apartment;  one  of  them  said 
"  Why,  Colonel,  he's  not  half  the  man  I  thought 
him.  Well,  any  way  he'll  be  better  there  than 
M'Dowell.  If  old  Scott  had  legs  he's  good  foi 
a  big  thing  yet." 

For  hours  I  went  horse-hunting  ;  but  Roths 
child  himself,  even  the  hunting  Baron,  could 
not  have  got  a  steed.  In  Pennsylvania  Avenue 
the  people  were  standing  in  the  shade  undei 
the  ailantus  trees,  speculating  on  the  news 
brought  by  dusty  orderlies,  or  on  the  ideas  oi 
passing  Congress  men.  A  party  of  captured 
Confederates,  on  their  march  to  General  Mans 
field's  quarters,  created  intense  interest,  and  1 
followed  them  to  the  house,  and  went  up  to 
see  the  General,  whilst  the  prisoners  sat  down 
on  the  pavement  and  steps  outside.  Notwith 
standing  his  affectation  of  calm  and  self-pos 
session,  General  Mansfield,  who  was  charged 
with  the  defence  of  the  town,  was  visibly  per 
turbed.  "  These  things,  sir,"  said  he,  "  happen 
in  Europe  too.  If  the  capital  should  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  rebels  the  United  States  will 
be  no  more  destroyed  than  they  were  when 
you  burned  it."  From  an  expression  he  let  fall, 
I  inferred  he  did  not  very  well  know  what  tc 
do  with  his  prisoners.  "  Rebels  taken  in  arma 
in  Europe  are  generally  hung  or  blown  away 
from  guns,  I  believe ;  but  we  are  more  merci 
ful."  General  Mansfi.eld  evidently  wished  to 
be  spared  the  embarrassment  of  dealing  with 
prisoners. 

I  dined  at  a  restaurant  kept  by  one  Boulan- 
ger,  a  Fre.nchman,  who  utilised  the  swarms  oi 
flies  infestmg  his  premises  by  combining  masses 
of  them  with  his  soup  and  made  dishes.  At 
an  adjoining  table  were  a  lanky  boy  in  a  lieu 
tenant's  uniform,  a  private  soldier,  and  a  man 
in  plain  clothes  ;  and  for  the  edification  of  the 
two  latter  the  warrior  youth  was  detailing  the 
most  remarkable  stories,  in  the  Munchausen 
style,  ear  ever  heard.  "  Well,  sir,  I  tell  you, 
when  his  head  fell  off  on  the  ground,  his  eyee 
shut  and  opened  twice,  and  his  tongue  came 
out  with  an  expression  as  if  he  wanted  to  say 
something."  "  There  were  seven  balls  through 
my  coat,  and  it  was  all  so  spiled  with  blood 
and  powder,  I  took  it  off  and  threw  it  in  the 
road.  When  the  boys  were  burying  the  dead, 
I  saw  this  coat  on  a  chap  who  had  been  just 
smothered  by  the  weight  of  the  killed  and 
wounded  on  the  top  of  him,  and  I  says,  '  Boys 
give  me  that  coat ;  it  will  just  do  for  me  with 
the  same  rank ;  and  there  is  no  use  in  putting 
good  cloth  on  a  dead  body.' "  "  And  how 
many  do  you  suppose  was  killed,  Lieutenant  ?" 
"  Well,  sir  1  it's  my  honest  belief,  I  tell  you, 
there  was  not  less  than  5000  of  our  boys,  and 
it  may  be  twice  as  many  of  the  enemy,  or 
more;  they  were  all  shot  down  just  like  pi 
geons  ;  you  might  walk  for  five  rods  by  the 
side  of  the  Run,  and  not  be  able  to  put  your 
foot  on  the  ground."  "  The  dead  was  that 
thick?"  "No,  but  the  dead  and  the  wounded 
together."  No  incredulity  in  the  hearers — all 
swallowed:  possibly  disgorged  into  the  note 
book  of  a  Washington  contributor. 

After  dinner  I  walked  over  with  Lieutenant 
H.  Wise,  inspected  a  model  of  Stevens'  ram, 
which  appears  to  me  an  utter  impossibility  iu 
face  of  the  iron-clad  embrasured  fleet'  now 


162 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


coming  up  to  view,  though  it  is  spoken  of  highly 
by  some  naval  officers  and  by  many  politicians. 
For  years  their  papers  have  been  indulging  in 
mysterious  volcanic  puffs  from  the  great  centre 
of  nothingness  as  to  this  secret  and  tremendous 
war-engine,  which  was  surrounded  by  walls  of 
all  kinds,  and  only  to  be  let  out  on  the  world 
when  the  Great  Republic  in  its  might  had  re- 
eolved  to  sweep  everything  off  the  seas.  And 
lo  !  it  is  an  abortive  ram  !  Los  Gringos  went 
home,  and  I  paid  a  visit  to  a  family  whose 
daughters — bright-eyed,  pretty  and  clever — 
were  seated  out  on  the  door-steps  amid  the 
lightning  flashes,  one  of  them,  at  least,  dreaming 
with  open  eyes  of  a  young  artillery  officer 
then  sleeping  among  his  guns,  probably,  in  front 
of  Fairfax  Court  House. 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 

Skirmish  at  Bull's  Run— The  Crisis  in  Congress— Dearth 
of  Horses— War  Prices  at  Washington— Estimate  of  tho 
effects  of  Bull's  Eun — Password  and  Countersign — 
Transatlantic  View  of  "  Tho  Times"— Difficulties  of  a 
Newspaper  Correspondent  IE  the  Field. 

July  Wth.— The  great  battle  which  is  to  ar 
rest  rebellion,  or  to  make  it  a  power  in  the  'land, 
is  no  longer  distant  or  doubtful.  M 'Do well  has 
completed  his  reconnaissance  of  the  country  in 
front  of  the  enemy,  and  General  Scott  antici 
pates  that  he  will  be  in  possessiou  of  Manassas 
to-morrow  night.  All  the  statements  of  officers 
concur  in  describing  the  Confederates  as  strong 
ly  entrenched  along  the  line  of  Bull's  Run 
covering  the  railroad.  The  New  York  papers, 
indeed,  audaciously  declare  that  the  enemy  have 
fallen  back  in  disorder.  In  the  main  thorough- 
tares  of  the  city  there  is  still  a  scattered  army 
of  idle  soldiers  moving  through  the  civil  crowd, 
though  how  they  come  here  no  one  knows. 
The  officers  clustering  round  the  hotels,  and 
running  in  and  out  of  the  bar-rooms  and  eating- 
houses,  are  still  more  numerous.  When  I  in 
quired  at  the  head-quarters  who  these  were, 
the  answer  was  that  the  majority  were  skulkers, 
but  that  there  was  no  power  at  such  a  moment 
to  send  them  back  to  their  regiments  or  punish 
the:n.  In  fact,  deducting  the  reserves,  the  rear 
guards,  and  the  scanty  garrisons  at  the  earth 
works,  M'Dowell  will  not  have  25,000  men  to 
undertake  his  seven  day's  march  through  a  hos 
tile  country  to  the  Confederate  capital,  and  yet, 
strange  to  say,  in  the  pride  and  passion  of  the 
politicians,  no  doubt  is  permitted  to  rise  for  a 
moment  respecting  his  complete  success. 

I  was  desirous  of  seeing  what  impression  was 
produced  upon  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  by  the  crisis  which  was  approaching,  and 
drove  down  to  the  Senate  at  noon.  There  was 
no  appearance  of  popular  enthusiasm,  excite 
ment,  or  emotion,  among  the  people  in  the  pas 
sages.  They  drank  their  iced  water,  ate  eakes 
or  lozenges,  chewed  and  chatted,  or  dashed  at 
their  acquaintances  amongst  the  members,  as 
though  nothing  more  important  than  a  railway 
bill  or  a  postal  concession  was  being  debated 
inside.  I  entered  the  Senate,  and  found  the 
House  engaged  in  not  listening  to  Mr.  Latham, 
the  Senator  for  California,  who  was  delivering 
an  elaborate  lecture  on  the  aspect  of  political 
affairs  from  a  Republican  point  of  view.  The 


Senators  were,  as  usual,  engaged  in  reading 
newspapers,  writing  letters,  or  in  whispered 
conversation,  whilst  the  Senator  received  his 
applause  from  the  people  in  the  galleries,  who 
were  scarcely  restrained  from  stamping  their 
feet  at  the  most  highly-flown  passages.  Whilst 
I  was  listening  to  what  is  by  courtesy  called 
the  debate,  a  messenger  from  Centreville  sent 
in  a  letter  to  me,  stating  that  General  M'Dowel 
would  advance  early  in  the  morning,  and  ex 
pected  to  engage  the  enemy  before  noon.  At 
the  same  moment  a  Senator  who  had  received 
a  despatch  left  his  seat  and  read  it  to  a  brother 
legislator,  and  the  news  it  contained  was  speed 
ily  diffused  from  one  seat  to  another,  and  groups 
formed  on  the  edge  of  the  floor  eagerly  discuss 
ing  the  welcome  intelligence. 

The  President's  hammer  again  and  again 
called  them  to  order ;  and  from  out  of  this  knot, 
Senator  Surnner,  his  face  lighted  with  pleasure, 
came  to  tell  me  the  good  news.  "M'Dowell 
has  carried  Bull's  Run  without  firing  a  shot. 
Seven  regiments  attacked  it  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  and  the  enemy  immediately  fled.  Ge 
neral  Scott  only  gives  M'Dowell  till  mid-day 
to-morrow  to  be  in  possession  of  Manassas." 
Soon  afterwards,  Mr.  Hay,  the  President's  secre 
tary,  appeared  on  the  floor  to  communicate  a 
message  to  the  Senate.  I  asked  him  if  the 
news  was  true.  "  All  I  can  tell  you,"  said  he, 
"  is  that  the  President  has  heard  nothing  at  all 
about  it,  and  that  General  Scott,  from  whom 
we  have  just  received  a  communication,  is 
equally  ignorant  of  the  reported  success." 

Some  Senators  and  many  Congress-men  have 
already  gone  to  join  M'Do-well's  army,  or  to 
follow  in  its  wake,  in  the  hope  of  seeing  the 
Lord  deliver  the  Philistines  into  his  hands.  As 
I  was  leaving  the  Chamber  with  Mr.  Sumner,  a 
dust-stained,  toil-worn  man,  caught  the  Senator 
by  the  arm,  and  said,  "  Senator,  I  am  one  of 

your  constituents.     I  come   from town, 

in  Massachusetts,  and  here  are  letters  from 
people  you  know,  to  certify  who  I  am.  My  poor 
brother  was  killed  yesterday,  and  I  want  to  go 
out  and  get  his  body  to  send  back  to  the  old 
people  ;  but  they  won't  let  me  pass  without  an 
order."  And  so  Mr.  Sumner  wrote  a  note  to 
General  Scott  and  another  to  General  Mans 
field,  recommending  that  poor  Gordon  Frazer 
should  be  permitted  to  go  through  the  Federal 
lines  on  his  labour  of  love ;  and  the  honest 
Scotchman  seemed  as  grateful  as  if  he  had  al 
ready  found  his  brother's  body. 

Every  carnage,  gig,  waggon,  and  hack  has 
been  engaged  by  people  going  out  to  see  the 
fight.  The  price  is  enhanced  by  mysterious 
communications  respecting  the  horrible  slaugh 
ter  in  the  skirmishes  at  Bull's  Run.  The  French 
cooks  and  hotel-keepers,  by  some  occult  process 
of  reasoning,  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that 
they  must  treble  the  prices  of  their  wines  and  of 
the  hampers  of  provisions  which  the  Washington 
people  are  ordering  to  comfort  themselves  at 
their  bloody  Derby.  "There  was  not  less  thun 
18,000  men,  sir,  killed  and  destroyed.  I  don't 
care  what  General  Scott  says  to  the  contrary,  he 
was  not  thei-e.  I  saw  a  reliable  gentleman,  ten 
minutes  ago,  as  cum  straight  from  the  .place,  and 
he  swore  there  was  a  string  of  waggons  three 
miles  long  with  the  wounded.  While  these  Yan 
kees  lie  so,  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  hear  they 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


163 


did  not  lose  1000  men  in  that  big  "fight  the  day 
before  yesterday." 

When  the  newspapers  came  in  from  New  York 
I  read  flaming  accounts  of  the  ill-conducted  re 
connaissance  against  orders,  which  was  termin 
ated  by  a  most  dastardly  and  ignominious  re 
treat,  "due,"  say  the  New  York  papers,  "to  the 
inefficiency  and  cowardice  of  some  of  the  offi 
cers."  Far  different  was  the  behaviour  of  the 
modest  chroniclers  of  these  scenes,  who,  as  they 
tell  us,  "stood  their  ground  as  well  as  any  of 
them,  in  spite  of  the  shot,  shell,  and  rifle-balls 
that  whizzed  past  them  for  many  hours."  Gen 
eral  Tyler  alone,  perhaps,  did  more,  for  "he 
was  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire  for  nearly  four 
hours ;"  and  when  we  consider  that  this  fire  came 
from  masked  batteries,  and  that  the  wind  of 
round  shot  is  unusually  destructive  (in  America), 
we  can  better  appreciate  the  danger  to  which  he 
was  so  gallantly  indifferent.  It  is  obvious  that 
in  this  first  encounter  the  Federal  troops  gained 
no  advantage ;  and  as  they  were  the  assailants, 
their  repulse,  which  cannot  be  kept  secret  from 
the  rest  of  the  army,  will  have  a  very  damaging 
effect  on  their  morale. 

General  Johnston,  who  has  been  for  some  days 
with  a  considerable  force  in  an  entrenched  posi 
tion  at  Winchester,  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenan- 
doah,  had  occupied  General  Scott's  attention,  in 
consequence  of  the  facility  which  he  possessed  to 
move  into  Maryland  by  Harper's  Ferry,  or  to  fall 
on  the  Federals  by  the  Manassas  Gap  Railway, 
which  was  available  by  a  long  march  from  the 
town  he  occupied.  General  Patterson,  with  a 
Fedei'al  corps  of  equal  strength,  had  accordingly 
been  despatched  to  attack  him,  or,  at  all  events, 
to  prevent  his  leaving  Winchester  without  an  ac 
tion  ;  but  the  news  to-night  is  that  Patterson, 
who  was  an  officer  of  some  reputation,  has  al 
lowed  Johnston  to  evacuate  Winchester,  and  has 
not  pursued  him  ;  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  pre 
dict  where  the  latter  will  appear. 

Having  failed  utterly  in  my  attempts  to  get  a 
horse,  I  was  obliged  to  negotiate  with  a  livery- 
stable  keeper,  who  had  a  hooded  gig,  or  tilbury, 
ieft  on  his  hands,  to  which  he  proposed  to  add  a 
splinter-bar  and  pole,  so  as  to  make  it  available 
for  two  horses,  on  condition  that  I  paid  him  the 
assessed  value  of  the  vehicle  and  horses,  in  case 
they  \vere  destroyed  by  the  enemy.  Of  what  par 
ticular  value  my  executors  might  have  regarded 
the  guarantee  in  question,  the  worthy  man  did 
not  inquire,  nor  did  he  stipulate  for  any  value  to 
be  put  upon  the  driver ;  but  it  struck  me  that, 
if  these  were  in  any  way  seriously  damaged,  the 
occupants  of  the  vehicle  were  not  likely  to  es 
cape.  The  driver,  indeed,  seemed  by  no  means 
willing  to  undertake  the  job ;  and  again  and 
again  it  was  proposed  to  me  that  I  should  drive, 
but  I  persistently  refused. 

On  completing  my  bargain  with  the  stable- 
keeper,  in  which  it  was  arranged  with  Mr.  Wroe 
that  I  was  to  start  on  the  following  morning  ear 
ly,  and  return  at  night  before  twelve  o'clock,  or 
pay  a  double  day,  I  went  over  to  the  Legation, 
and  found  Lord  Lyons  in  the  garden.  I  went 
to  request  that  he  would"permit  Mr.  Warre,  one 
of  the  attaches,  to  accompany  me,  as  he  had  ex 
pressed  a  desire  to  that  effect.  His  Lordship 
hesitated  at  first,  thinking  perhaps  that  the  Amer 
ican  papers  would  turn  the  circumstance  to  some 
base  uses,  if  they  were  made  aware  of  it ;  but 


finally  he  consented,  on  the  distinct  assurance 
that  I  was  to  be  back  the  following  night,  and 
would  not,  under  any  event,  proceed  onwards 
with  General  M'Dowell's  army  till  after  I  had 
returned  to  Washington.  On  talking  over  the 
matter  with  Mr.  Warre,  I  resolved  that  the  best 
plan  would  be  to  start  that  night  if  possible,  and 
proceed  over  the  long  bridge,  so  as  to  overtake 
the  army  before  it  advanced  in  the  early  morn 
ing. 

It  was  a  lovely  moonlight  night.  As  we  walk 
ed  through  the  street  to  General  Scott's  quarters, 
for  the  purpose  of  procuring  a  pass,  there  was 
scarcely  a  soul  abroad;  and  the  silence  which 
reigned  contrasted  strongly  with  the  tumult  pre 
vailing  in  the  day-time.  A  light  glimmered  in 
the  General's  parlour  ;  his  aides  were  seated  in 
the  verandah  outside  smoking  in  silence,  and 
one  of  them  handed  us  the  passes  which  he  had 
promised  to  procure ;  but  when  I  told  them  that 
we  intended  to  cross  the  long  bridge  that  night, 
an  unforeseen  obstacle  arose.  The  guards  had 
been  specially  ordered  to  permit  no  person  to 
cross  between  tattoo  and  daybreak  who  was  not 
provided  with  the  countersign  ;  and  without  the 
express  order  of  the  General,  no  subordinate  of 
ficer  can  communicate  that  countersign  to  a 
stranger.  "Can  you  not  ask  the  General?" 
"He  is  lying  down  asleep,  and  I  dare  not  ven 
ture  to  disturb  him." 

As  I  had  all  along  intended  to  start  before 
daybreak,  this  contretemps  promised  to  be  very 
embarrassing,  and  I  ventured  to  suggest  that 
General  Scott  would  authorise  the  countersign 
to  be  given  when  he  awoke.  But  the  aide-de 
camp  shook  his  head,  and  I  began  to  suspect  from 
his  manner  and  from  that  of  his  comrades  that 
my  visit  to  the  army  was  not  regarded  with  much 
favour — a  view  which  was  confirmed  by  one  of 
them,  who,  by  the  way,  was  a  civilian,  for  in  a 
few  minutes  he  said,  "In  fact,  I  would  not  ad 
vise  Warre  and  you  to  go  out  there  at  all ;  they 
are  a  lot  of  volunteers  and  recruits,  and  we  can't 
say  how  they  will  behave.  They  may  probably 
have  to  retreat.  If  I  were  you  I  would  not  be 
near  them."  Of  the  five  or  six  officers  who  sat 
in  the  verandah,  not  one  spoke  confidently  or 
with  the  briskness  which  is  usual  when  there  is 
a  chance  of  a  brush  with  an  enemy. 

As  it  was  impossible  to  force  the  point,  we  had 
to  retire,  and  I  went  once  more  to  the  horse 
dealer's,  where  I  inspected  the  vehicle  and  the 
quadrupeds  destined  to  draw  it.  I  had  spied  in 
the  stall  a  likely-looking  Kentuckian  nag,  near 
ly  black,  light,  but  strong,  and  full  of  fire,  with 
an  undertaker's  tail  and  something  of  a  mane  to 
match,  which  the  groom  assured  me  I  could  not 
even  look  at,  as  it  was  bespoke  by  an  officer ;  but 
after  a  little  strategy  I  prevailed  on  the  proprie 
tor  to  hire  it  to  me  for  the  day,  as  well  as  a  boy, 
who  was  to  ride  it  after  the  gig  till  we  came  to 
Centreville.  My  little  experience  in  such  scenes 
decided  me  to  secure  a  saddle-horse.  I  knew  it 
would  be  impossible  to  see  anything  of  the  ac 
tion  from  a  gig ;  that  the  roads  would  be  blocked 
up  by  commissariat  waggons,  ammunition  re 
serves,  and  that  in  case  of  anything  serious  tak 
ing  place,  I  should  be  deprived  of  the  chance  of 
participating  after  the  manner  of  my  vocation  in 
the  engagement,  and  of  witnessing  its  incidents. 
As  it  was  not  incumbent  on  my  companion  to 
approach  so  closely  to  the  scene  of  action,  be 


164 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


could  proceed  in  the  vehicle  to  the  most  conven 
ient  point,  and  then  walk  as  far  as  he  liked,  and 
return  when  he  pleased  ;  but  from  the  injuries  I 
received  in  the  Indian  campaign,  I  could  not 
walk  very  far.  It  was  finally  settled  that  the 
gig,  with  two  horses  and  the  saddle-horse  ridden 
by  a  negro  boy,  should  be  at  my  door  as  soon 
after  daybreak  as  we  could  pass  the  Long  Bridge. 

I  returned  to  my  lodgings,  laid  out  an  old  pair 
of  Indian  boots,  cords,  a  Himalayan  suit,  an  old 
felt  hat,  a  flask,  revolver,  and  belt.  It  was  very 
late  when  I  got  in,  and  I  relied  on  my  German 
landlady  to  procure  some  commissariat  stores ; 
but  she  declared  the  whole  extent  of  her  means 
would  only  furnish  some  slices  of  bread,  with  in 
tercostal  layers  of  stale  ham  and  mouldy  Bo 
logna  sausage.  I  was  forced  to  be  content,  and 
got  to  bed  after  midnight,  and  slept,  having  first 
arranged  that  in  case  of  my  being  very  late  next 
night  a  trustworthy  Englishman  should  be  sent 
for,  who  would  carry  my  letters  from  Washing 
ton  to  Boston  in  time  for  the  mail  which  leaves 
on  Wednesday.  My  mind  had  been  so  much  oc 
cupied  with  the  coming  event  that  I  slept  unea 
sily,  and  once  or  twice  I  started  up,  fancying  I 
was  called.  The  moon  shone  in  through  the 
musquito  curtains  of  my  bed,  and  just  ere  day 
break  I  was  aroused  by  some  noise  in  the  ad 
joining  room,  and  looking  out,  in  a  half  dreamy 
state,  imagined  I  saw  General  M'Dowell  stand 
ing  at  the  table,  on  which  a  candle  was  burning 
low,  so  distinctly  that  I  woke  up  with  the  words, 
"General,  is  that  you?"  Nor  did  I  convince 
myself  it  was  a  dream  till  I  had  walked  into  the 
room. 

July  21st. — The  calmness  and  silence  of  the 
streets  of  Washington  this  lovely  morning  sug 
gested  thoughts  of  the  very  different  scenes 
which,  in  all  probability,  were  taking  place  at  a 
few  miles'  distance.  One  could  fancy  the  hum 
and  stir  round  the  Federal  bivouacs,  as  the  troops 
woke  up  and  were  formed  into  column  of  march 
towards  the  enemy.  I  much  regretted  that  I 
was  not  enabled  to  take  the  field  with  General 
M'Dowell's  army,  but  my  position  was  surround 
ed  with  such  difficulties  that  I  could  not  pursue 
the  course  open  to  the  correspondents  of  the 
American  newspapers.  On  my  arrival  in  Wash 
ington  I  addressed  an  application  to  Mr.  Cam 
eron,  Secretary  at  War,  requesting  him  to  sanc 
tion  the  issue  of  rations  and  forage  from  the 
Commissariat  to  myself,  a  servant,  and  a  couple 
of  horses,  at  the  contract  prices,  or  on  whatever 
other  terms  he  might  think  fit,  and  I  had  sever 
al  interviews  with  Mr.  Leslie,  the  obliging  and 
indefatigable  chief  clerk  of  the  War  Department, 
in  reference  to  the  matter ;  but  as  there  was  a 
want  of  precedents  for  such  a  course,  which  was 
not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at,  seeing  that  no  rep 
resentative  of  an  English,  newspaper  had  ever 
been  sent  to  chronicle  the  progress  of  an  Amer 
ican  army  in  the  field,  no  satisfactory  result 
could  be  arrived  at,  though  I  had  many  fair 
words  and  promises. 

A  great  outcry  had  arisen  in  the  North  against 
the  course  and  policy  of  England,  and  the  jour 
nal  I  represented  was  assailed  on  all  sides  as  a 
Secession  organ,  favourable  to  the  rebels  and  ex 
ceedingly  hostile  to  the  Federal  government  and 
the  cause  of  the  Union.  Public  men  in  Amer 
ica  are  alive  to  the  inconveniences  of  attacks  by 
their  own  press  ;  and  as  it  was  quite  impossible 


to  grant  to  the  swarms  of  correspondents  from 
all  parts  of  the  Union  the  permission  to  draw 
supplies  from  the  public  stores,  it  would  have  af 
forded  a  handle  to  turn  the  screw  upon  the  War 
Department,  already  roundly  abused  in  the  most 
influential  papers,  if  Mr.  Cameron  acceded  to 
me,  not  merely  a  foreigner,  but  the  correspond 
ent  of  a  foreign  journal  which  was  considered 
the  most  powerful  enemy  of  the  policy  of  his  gov 
ernment,  privileges  which  he  denied  to  Ameri 
can  citizens,  representing  newspapers  which  were 
enthusiastically  supporting  the  cause  for  which 
the  armies  of  the  North  were  now  in  the  field. 

To  these  gentlemen  indeed,  I  must  here  re 
mark,  such  privileges  were  of  little  consequence. 
In  every  camp  they  had  friends  who  were  will 
ing  to  receive  them  in  their  quarters,  and  who 
earned  a  word  of  praise  in  the  local  papers  for 
the  gratification  of  either  their  vanity  or  their 
laudable  ambition  in  their  own  neighbourhood, 
by  the  ready  service  which  they  afforded  to  the 
correspondents.  They  rode  Government  horses, 
had  the  use  of  Government  waggons,  and  through 
fear,  favour,  or  affection,  enjoyed  facilities  to 
which  I  had  no  access.  I  could  not  expect  per 
sons  with  whom  I  was  unacquainted  to  be  equal 
ly  generous,  least  of  all  when  by  doing  so  they 
would  have  incurred  popular  obloquy  and  cen 
sure  ;  though  many  officers  in  the  army  had  ex 
pressed  in  very  civil  terms  the  pleasure  it  would 
give  them  to  see  me  at  their  quarters  in  the  field. 
Some  days  ago  I  had  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Cameron  himself,  who  was  profuse  enough  in 
promising  that  he  would  do  all  in  his  power  to 
further  my  wishes ;  but  he  had,  nevertheless,  neg 
lected  sending  me  the  authorisation  for  which 
I  had  applied.  I  could  scarcely  stand  a  baggage 
train  and  commissariat  upon  my  own  account, 
nor  could  I  well  participate  in  the  system  of 
plunder  and  appropriation  which  has  marked 
the  course  of  the  Eederal  army  so  far,  devastat 
ing  and  laying  waste  all  the  country  behind  it. 

Hence,  all  I  could  do  was  to  make  a  journey 
to  see  the  army  on  the  field,  and  to  return  to 
Washington  to  write  my  report  of  its  first  opera 
tion,  knowing  there  would  be  plenty  of  time  to 
overtake  it  before  it  could  reach  Richmond,  when, 
as  I  hoped,  Mr.  Cameron  would  be  prepared  to 
accede  to  my  request,  or  some  plan  had  been  de 
vised  by  myself  to  obviate  the  difficulties  which 
lay  in  my  path.  There  was  no  entente  cordiale 
exhibited  towards  me  by  the  members  of  the 
American  press ;  nor  did  they,  any  more  than 
the  generals,  evince  any  disposition  to  help  the 
alien  correspondent  of  the  Times,  and  my  only 
connection  with  one  of  their  body,  the  young  de 
signer,  had  not,  indeed,  inspired  me  with  any 
great  desire  to  extend  my  acquaintance.  Gen 
eral  M'Dowell,  on  giving  me  the  most  hospita 
ble  invitation  to  his  quarters,  refrained  from  of 
fering  the  assistance  which,  perhaps,  it  was  not 
in  his  power  to  afford ;  and  I  confess,  looking  at 
the  matter  calmly,  I  could  scarcely  expect  that 
he  would,  particularly  as  he  said,  half  in  jest, 
half  seriously,  "  I  declare  I  am  not  quite  easy  at 
the  idea  of  having  your  eye  on  me,  for  you  have 
seen  so  much  of  European  armies,  you  will,  very 
naturally,  think  little  of  us,  generals  and  all." 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


165 


CHAPTER  L. 

To  the  scene  of  action — The  Confederate  camp — Centre- 
ville— Action  at  Bull  Run— Defeat  of  the  Federals- 
Disorderly  retreat  to  (Jentreville  —  My  ride  back  to 
Washington. 

PUNCTUAL  to  time  our  carriage  appeared  at 
the  door,  with  a  spare  horse,  followed  by  the 
black  quadruped  on  which  the  negro  boy  sat 
with  difficulty,  in  consequence  of  its  high  spirits 
and  excessively  hard  mouth.  I  swallowed  a  cup 
of  tea  and  a  morsel  of  bread,  put  the  remainder 
of  the  tea  into  a  bottle,  got  a  flask  of  light  Bor 
deaux,  a  bottle  of  water,  a  paper  of  sandwiches, 
and  having  replenished  my  small  flask  with  bran 
dy,  stowed  them  all  away  in  the  bottom  of  the 
gig  ;  but  my  friend,  who  is  not  accustomed  to 
rise  very  early  in  the  morning,  did  not  make  his 
appearance,  and  I  was  obliged  to  send  several 
times  to  the  legation  to  quicken  his  movements. 
Each  time  I  was  assured  he  would  be  over  pres 
ently  ;  but  it  was  not  till  two  hours  hud  elapsed, 
and*  when  I  had  just  resolved  to  leave  him  be 
hind,  that  he  appeared  in  person,  quite  unpro 
vided  with  viaticum,  so  that  my  slender  store  had 
now  to  meet  the  demands  of  two  instead  of  one. 
We  are  off  at  last.  The  amicus  and  self  find 
contracted  space  behind  the  driver.  The  negro 
boy,  grinning  half  with  pain  and  "  the  balance" 
with  pleasure,  as  the  Americans  say,  held  on  his 
rampant  charger,  which  made  continual  efforts 
to  leap  into  the  gig,  and  thus  through  the  de 
serted  city  we  proceeded  towards  the  Long 
Bridge,  where  a  sentry  examined  our  papers, 
and  said  with  a  grin,  "You'll  find  plenty  of  Con 
gressmen  on  before  you."  And  then  our  driver 
whipped  his  horses  through  the  embankment  of 
Fort  Runyon,  and  dashed  off  along  a  country 
road,  much  cut  up  with  gun  and  cart  wheels,  to 
wards  the  main  turnpike. 

The  promise  of  a  lovely  day,  given  by  the  ear 
ly  dawn,  was  likely  to  be  realised  to  the  fullest, 
and  the  placid  beauty  of  the  scenery  as  we  drove 
through  the  woods  below  Arlington,  and  beheld 
the  white  buildings  shining  in  the  early  sunlight, 
and  the  Potomac,  like  a  broad  silver  riband  di 
viding  the  picture,  breathed  of  peace.  The  si 
lence  close  to  the  city  was  unbroken.  From 
the  time  we  passed  the  guard  beyond  the  Long 
Bridge,  for  several  miles  we  did  not  meet  a  hu 
man  being,  except  a  few  soldiers  in  the  neigh 
bourhood  of  the  deserted  camps,  and  when  we 
passed  beyond  the  range  of  tents  we  drove  for 
nearly  two  hours  through  a  densely-wooded,  un 
dulating  country ;  the  houses,  close  to  the  road 
side,  shut  up  and  deserted,  window-high  in  the 
crops  of  Indian  corn,  fast  ripening  for  the  sickle ; 
alternate  field  and  forest,  the  latter  generally 
still  holding  possession  of  the  hollows,  and,  ex 
cept  when  the  road,  deep  and  filled  with  loose 
stones,  passed  over  the  summit  of  the  ridges,  the 
eye  caught  on  either  side  little  but  fir-trees  and 
maize,  and  the  deserted  wooden  houses,  standing 
amidst  the  slave  quarters. 

The  residences  close  to  the  lines  gave  signs 
and  tokens  that  the  Federals  had  recently  visit 
ed  them.  But  at  the  best  of  times  the  inhabit 
ants  could  not  be  very  well  off.  Some  of  the 
farms  were  small,  the  houses  tumbling  to  decay, 
with  unpainted  roofs  and  side  walls,  and  win 
dows  where  the  want  of  glass  was  supplemented 
by  panes  of  wood.  As  we  got  further  into  the 
country  the  traces  of  the  debateable  land  between 


the  two  armies  vanished,  and  negroes  looked  out 
from  their  quarters,  or  sickly-looking  women  and 
children  were  summoned  forth  by  the  rattle  of 
the  wheels  to  see  who  was  hurrving  to  the  war. 
Now  and  then  a  white  man  looked  out,  with  an 
ugly  scowl  on  his  face,  but  the  country  seemed 
drained  of  the  adult  male  population,  and  such 
of  the  inhabitants  as  we  saw  were  neither  as 
comfortably  dressed  nor  as  healthy  looking  as 
the  shambling  slaves  who  shuffled  about  the 
plantations.  The  road  was  so  cut  up  by  gun- 
wheels,  ammunition  and  commissariat  waggons, 
that  our  horses  made  but  slow  way  against  the 
continual  draft  upon  the  collar;  but  at  last  the 
driver,  who  had  known  the  country  in  happier 
times,  announced  that  we  had  entered  the  high 
road  for  Fairfax  Court-house.  Unfortunately 
my  watch  had  gone  down,  but  I  guessed  it  was 
then  a  little  before  nine  o'clock.  In  a  few  min 
utes  afterwards  I  thought  I  heard,  through  the 
eternal  clatter  and  jingle  of  the  old  gig,  a  sound 
which  made  me  call  the  driver  to  stop.  He 
pulled  up,  and  we  listened.  In  a  minute  or  so, 
the  well-known  boom  of  a  gun,  followed  by  two 
or  three  in  rapid  succession,  bnt  at  a  considera 
ble  distance,  reached  my  ear.  "Did  you  hear 
that?"  The  driver  heard  nothing,  nor  did  my 
companion,  but  the  black  boy  on  the  led  horse, 
with  eyes  starting  out  of  his  head,  cried,  "I  hear 
them,  massa ;  I  hear  them,  sure  enough,  like  de 
gun  in  de  navy  yard ;"  and  as  he  spoke  the  thud 
ding  noise,  like  taps  with  a  gentle  hand  upon  a 
muffled  drum,  were  repeated,  which  were  heard 
both  by  Mr.  Warre  and  the  driver.  "They  are 
at  it !  We  shall  be  late !  Drive  on  as  fast  as 
you  can  !"  We  rattled  on  still  faster,  and  pres 
ently  came  up  to  a  farm-house,  where  a  man 
and  woman,  with  some  negroes  beside  them, 
were  standing  out  by  the  hedge-row  above  us, 
looking  up  the  road  in  the  direction  of  a  cloud 
of  dust,  which  we  could  see  rising  above  the  tops 
of  the  trees.  We  halted  for  a  moment.  "How 
long  have  the  guns  been  going.,  sir?"  "Well, 
ever  since  early  this  morning,"  said  he ;  "  they've 
been  having  a  fight.  And  I  do  really  believe 
some  of  our  poor  Union  chaps  have  had  enough 
of  it  already.  For  here's  some  of  them  darned 
Secessionists  marching  down  to  go  to  Alexan- 
dry."  The  driver  did  not  seem  altogether  con 
tent  with  this  explanation  of  the  dust  in  front  of 
us,  and  presently,  when  a  turn  of  the  road  brought 
to  view  a  body  of  armed  men,  stretching  to  an 
interminable  distance,  with  bayonets  glittering 
in  the  sunlight  through  the  clouds  of  dust,  seem 
ed  inclined  to  halt  or  turn  back  again.  A  nearer 
approa-ch  satisfied  me  they  were  friends,  and  as 
soon  as  we  came  up  with  the  head  of  the  column 
I  saw  that  they  could  not  be  engaged  in  the  per 
formance  of  any  military  duty.  The  men  were 
marching  without  any  resemblance  of  order,  in 
twos  and  threes  or  larger  troops.  Some  with 
out  arms,  carrying  great  bundles  on  their  backs  ; 
others  with  their  coats  hung  from  their  firelocks ; 
many  foot  sore.  They  were  all  talking  and  in 
haste ;  many  plodding  along  laughing,  so  I  con 
cluded  that  they  could  not  belong  to  a  defeated 
army,  and  imagined  M'Dowell  was  effecting 
some  flank  movement.  "Where  are  you  going 
to,  may  I  ask?" 

"  If  this  is  the  road  to  Alexandria,  we  are  go 
ing  there." 

"  There  is  an  action  going  on  in  front,  is  there 
not?" 


166 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


"Well,  so  we  believe,  but  we  have  not  been 
fighting." 

Although  they  were  in  such  good  spirits,  they 
were  not  communicative,  and  we  resumed  our 
journey,  impeded  by  the  straggling  troops  and 
by  the  country  cars  containing  their  baggage 
and  chairs,  and  tables  and  domestic  furniture, 
which  had  never  belonged  to  a  regiment  in  the 
field.  Still  they  came  pouring  on.  I  ordered 
the  driver  to  stop  at  a  rivulet,  where  a  number 
of  men  were  seated  in  the  shade,  drinking  the 
water  and  bathing  their  hands  and  feet.  On 
getting  out  1  asked  an  ofticer,  "May  I  beg  to 
know,  sir,  where  your  regiment  is  going  to?" 
"Well,  I  reckon,  sir,  we  are  going  home  to  Penn 
sylvania."  "  This  is  the  4th  Pennsylvania  Reg 
iment,  is  it  not,  sir?"  "  It  is  so,  sir;  that's  the 
fact."  "  I  should  think  there  is  severe  fighting 
going  on  behind  you,  judging  from  the  firing 
(for  every  moment  the  sound  of  the  cannon  had 
been  growing  more  distinct  and  more  heavy)?" 
"  Well,  I  reckon,  sir,  there  is."  I  paused  for  a 
moment,  not  knowing  what  to  say,  and  yet  anx 
ious  for  an  explanation ;  and  the  epauletted  gen 
tleman,  after  a  few  second's  awkward  hesitation, 
added, "  We  are  going  home  because,  as  you  see, 
the  men's  time's  up,  sir.  We  have  had  three 
months  of  this  sort  of  work,  and  that's  quite 
enough  of  it."  The  men  who  were  listening  to 
the  conversation  expressed  their  assent  to  the 
noble  and  patriotic  utterances  of  the  centurion, 
and,  making  him  a  low  bow,  we  resumed  our 
journey. 

It  was  fully  three  and  a  half  miles  before  the 
last  of  the  regiment  passed,  and  then  the  ro'ad 
presented  a  more  animated  scene,  for  white-cov 
ered  commissariat  waggons  were  visible,  wending 
towards  the  front,  and  one  or  two  hack  carriages, 
laden  with  civilians,  were  hastening  in  the  same 
direction.  Before  the.  doors  of  the  wooden  farm 
houses  the  coloured  people  were  assembled,  listen 
ing  with  outstretched  necks  to  the  repeated  re 
ports  of  the  guns.  At  one  time,  as  we  were  de 
scending  the  wooded  road,  a  huge  blue  dome, 
agitated  by  some  internal  convulsion,  appeared 
to  bar  our  progress,  and  it  was  only  after  infinite 
persuasion  of  rein  and  whip  that  the  horses  ap 
proached  the  terrific  object,  which  was  an  inflated 
balloon,  attached  to  a  waggon,  and  defying  the 
efforts  of  the  men  in  charge  to  jockey  it  safely 
through  the  trees. 

It  must  have  been  about  eleven  o'clock  when 
we  came  to  the  first  traces  of  the  Confederate 
camp,  in  front  of  Fairfax  Court-house,  where 
they  had  cut  a  few  trenches  and  levelled  the 
trees  across  the  road,  so  as  to  form  a  rude  abat- 
tis ;  but  the  works  were  of  a  most  superficial 
character,  and  would  scarcely  have  given  cover 
either  to  the  guns,  for  which  embrasures  were  left 
at  the  flanks  to  sweep  the  road,  or  to  the  infantry 
intended  to  defend  them. 

The  Confederate  force  stationed  here  must  have 
consisted,  to  a  considerable  extent,  of  cavalry. 
The  bowers  of  branches,  which  they  had  made 
to  shelter  their  tents,  camp  tables,  empty  boxes, 
and  packing-cases,  in  the  debris  one  usually  sees 
around  an  encampment,  showed  they  had  not 
been  destitute  of  creature  comforts. 

Some  time  before  noon  the  driver,  urged  con 
tinually  by  adjurations  to  get  on,  whipped  his 
horses  into  Fairfax  Court-house,  a  village  which 
derives  its  name  from  a  large  brick  building,  in 


which  the  sessions  of  the  county  are  held.  Some 
thirty  or  forty  houses,  for  the  most  part  detach 
ed,  with  gardens  or  small  strips  of  land  about 
them,  form  the  main  street.  The  inhabitants 
who  remained  had  by  no  means  an  agreeable  ex 
pression  of  countenance,  and  did  not  seem  on 
very  good  terms  with  the  Federal  soldiers,  who 
were  lounging  up  and  down  the  streets,  or  stand 
ing  in  the  shade  of  the  trees  and  doorways.  I 
asked  the  sergeant  of  a  picket  in  the  street  how 
long  the  firing  had  been  going  on.  He  replied 
that  it  had  commenced  at  half-past  seven  or 
eight,  and  had  been  increasing  ever  since. 
"Some  of  them  will  lose  their  eyes  and  back 
teeth,"  he  said,  "before  it  is  over."  The  driver, 
pulling  up  at  a  roadside  inn  in  the  town,  here 
made  the  startling  announcement  that  both  he 
and  his  horses  must  have  something  to  e?.t,  r.nd 
although  we  would  have  been  happy  to  join  him, 
seeing  that  we  had  no  breakfast,  we  could  not 
afford  the  time,  and  were  not  displeased  when  a 
thin-faced,  shrewish  woman,  in  black,  came  out 
into  the  verandah,  and  said  she  could  not  let  us 
have  anything  unless  we  liked  to  wait  till  the 
regular  dinner  hour  of  the  house,  which  was  at 
one  o'clock.  The  horses  got  a  bucket  of  water, 
which  they  needed  in  that  broiling  sun  ;  and  the 
cannonade,  which  by  this  time  had  increased  into 
a  respectable  tumult  that  gave  evidence  of  a 
well-sustained  action,  added  vigour  to  the  driv 
er's  arm,  and  in  a  mile  or  two  more  we  dashed 
into  a  village  of  burnt  houses,  the  charred  brick 
chimney  stacks  standing  amidst  the  blackened 
embers  being  all  that  remained  of  what  was  once 
German  Town.  The  firing  of  this  village  was 
severely  censured  by  General  M'Dowell,  who 
probably  does  not  appreciate  the  value  of  such 
agencies  employed  "  by  our  glorious  Union  army 
to  develope  loyal  sentiments  among  the  people  of 
Virginia." 

The  driver,  passing  through  the  town,  drove 
straight  on,  but  after  some  time  I  fancied  the 
sound  of  the  guns  seemed  dying  away  towards 
our  left.  A  big  negro  came  shambling  along 
the  roadside — the  driver  stopped  and  asked  him, 
"Is  this  the  road  to  Centreville?"  "Yes,  sir; 
right  on,  sir :  good  road  to  Centreville,  massa," 
and  so  we  proceeded,  till  I  became  satisfied  from, 
the  appearance  of  the  road  that  we  had  altogeth 
er  left  the  track  of  the  army.  At  the  first  cot 
tage  we  halted,  and  inquired  of  a  Virginian, 
who  came  out  to  look  at  us,  whether  the  road 
led  to  Centreville.  "You're  going  to  Centre 
ville,  are  you  ?"  "  Yes,  by  the  shortest  road  we 
can."  "Well,  then — you're  going  wrong — right 
away !  Some  people  say  there's  a  bend  of  road 
leading  through  the  wood  a  mile  further  on,  but 
those  who  have  tried  it  lately  have  come  back  to 
German  Town,  and  don't  think  it  leads  to  Cen 
treville  at  all."  This  was  very  provoking,  as  the 
horses  were  much  fatigued  and  we  had  driven 
several  miles  out  of  our  way.  The  driver,  who 
was  an  Englishman,  said,  "I  think  it  would  be 
best  for  us  to  go  on  and  try  the  road  anyhow. 
There's  not  likely  to  be  any  Seceshers  about 
there,  are  there,  sir?" 

"What  did  you  say,  sir?"  inquired  the  Vir 
ginian,  with  a  vacant  stare  upon  his  face. 

"I  merely  asked  whether  you  think  we  are 
likely  to  meet  with  any  Secessionists  if  wo  go 
along  that  road  ?" 

"Secessionists !"  repeated  the  Virginian,  slow- 


MY  DIARY  NOKTH  AND  SOUTH. 


167 


ly  pronouncing  each  syllable  as  if  pondering  on 
the  meaning  of  the  word — "Secessionists!  Oh 
no,  sir ;  I  don't  believe  there's  such  a  thing  as  a 
Secessionist  in  the  whole  of  this  country." 

The  boldness  of  this  assertion,  in  the  very 
hearing  of  Beauregard's  cannon,  completely 
shook  the  faith  of  our  Jehu  in  any  information 
from  that  source,  and  we  retraced  our  steps  to 
German  Town,  and  were  directed  into  the  prop 
er  road  by  some  negroes,  who  were  engaged  ex 
changing  Confederate  money  at  very  low  rates 
for  Federal  copper  with  a  few  straggling  sol 
diers.  The  faithful  Muley  Moloch,  who  had 
been  capering  in  our  rear  so  long,  now  complain 
ed  that  he  was  very  much  burned,  but  on  further 
inquiry  it  was  ascertained  he  was  merely  suffer 
ing  from  the  abrading  of  his  skin  against  an  En 
glish  saddle. 

In  an  hour  more  we  had  gained  the  high  road 
to  Centreville,  on  which  were  many  buggies,  com 
missariat  carts,  and  waggons  full  of  civilians,  and 
a  brisk  canter  brought  us  in  sight  of  a  rising 
ground,  over  which  the  road  led  directly  through 
a  few  houses  on  each  side,  and  dipped  out  of 
sight,  the  slopes  of  the  hill  being  covered  with 
men,  carts,  and  horses,  and  the  summit  crested 
with  spectators,  with  their  backs  turned  towards 
us,  and  gazing  on  the  valley  beyond.  "There's 
Centreville,"  says  the  driver,  and  on  our  poor 
panting  horses  were  forced,  passing  directly 
through  the  Confederate  bivouacs,  commissariat 
parks,  folds  of  oxen,  and  two  German  regiments, 
with  a  battery  of  artillery,  halting  on  the  rising 
ground  by  the  roadside.  The  heat  was  intense. 
Our  driver  complained  of  hunger  and  thirst,  to 
which  neither  I  nor  my  companion  were  insensi 
ble  ;  and  so  pulling  up  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  I 
sent  the  boy  down  to  the  village  which  we  had 
passed,  to  see  if  he  could  find  shelter  for  the 
horses,  and  a  morsel  for  our  breakfastless  selves. 

It  was  a  strange  scene  before  us.  From  the 
hill  a  densely  wooded  country,  dotted  at  inter 
vals  with  green  fields  and  cleared  lands,  spread 
five  or  six  miles  in  front,  bounded  by  a  line  of 
blus  and  purple  ridges,  terminating  abruptly  in 
escarpments  towards  the  left  front,  and  swelling 
gradually  towards  the  right  into  the  lower  spines 
of  an  offshoot  from  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains. 
On  our  left  the  view  was  circumscribed  by  a  for 
est  which  clothed  the  side  of  the  ridge  on  which 
we  stood,  and  covered  its  shoulder  far  down  into 
the  plain.  A  gap  in  the  nearest  chain  of  the 
hills  in  our  front  was  pointed  out  by  the  by 
standers  as  the  Pass  of  Manassas,  by  which  the 
railway  from  the  West  is  carried  into  the  plain, 
and  still  nearer  at  hand,  before  us,  is  the  junc 
tion  of  that  rail  with  the  line  from  Alexandria, 
and  with  the  railway  leading  southwards  to 
Richmond.  The  intervening  space  was  not  a 
dead  level ;  undulating  lines  of  forest  marked 
the  course  of  the  streams  which  intersected  it, 
and  gave,  by  their  variety  of  colour  and  shading, 
an  additional  charm  to  the  landscape  which,  en 
closed  in  a  framework  of  blue  and  purple  hills, 
softened  into  violet  in  the  extreme  distance,  pre 
sented  one  of  the  most  agreeable  displays  of  sim 
ple  pastoral  woodland  scenery  that  could  be  con 
ceived. 

But  the  sounds  which  came  upon  the  breeze, 
and  the  sights  which  met  our  eyes,  were  in  terri 
ble  variance  with  the  tranquil  character  of  the 
landscape.  The  woods  far  and  near  echoed  to 


the  roar  of  cannon,  and  thin  frayed  lines  of  blue 
smoke  marked  the  spots  whence  came  the  mut 
tering  sound  of  rolling  musketry  ;  the  white  puffs 
of  smoke  burst  high  above  the  tree-tops,  and  the 
gunners'  rings  from  shell  and  howitzer  marked 
the  fire  of  the  artillery. 

Clouds  of  dust  shifted  and  moved  through  the 
forest ;  and  through  the  wavering  mists  of  light 
blue  smoke,  and  the  thicker  masses  which  rose 
commingling  from  the  feet  of  men  and  the 
mouths  of  cannon,  I  could  see  the  gleam  of  arms 
and  the  twinkling  of  bayonets. 

On  the  hill  beside  me  there  was  a  crowd  of 
civilians  on  horseback,  and  in  all  sorts  of  vehi 
cles,  with  a  few  of  the  fairer,  if  not  gentler  sex. 
A  few  officers  and  some  soldiers,  who  had  strag 
gled  from  the  regiments  in  reserve,  moved  about 
among  the  spectators,  and  pretended  to  explain 
the  movements  of  the  troops  below,  of  which 
they  were  profoundly  ignorant. 

The  cannonade  and  musketry  had  been  exag 
gerated  by  the  distance  and  by  the  rolling  echoes 
of  the  hills ;  and  sweeping  the  position  narrowly 
with  my  glass  from  point  to  point,  I  failed  to  dis 
cover  any  traces  of  close  encounter  or  very  se 
vere  fighting.  The  spectators  were  all  excited, 
and  a  lady  with  an  opera-glass  who  was  near  me 
was  quite  beside  herself  when  an  unusually  heavy 
discharge  roused  the  current  of  her  blood  — 
"That  is  splendid.  Oh,  my !  Is  not  that  first- 
rate  ?  I  guess  we  will  be  in  Richmond  this  time 
to-morrow."  These,  mingled  with  coarser  ex 
clamations,  burst  from  the  politicians  who  had 
come  out  to  see  the  triumph  of  the  Union  arms. 
I  was  particularly  irritated  by  the  constant  appli 
cations  for  the  loan  of  my  glass.  One  broken- 
down  looking  soldier  observing  my  flask,  asked 
me  for  a  drink,  and  took  a  startling  pull,  which 
left  but  little  between  the  bottom  and  utter  vacu 
ity. 

"Stranger,  that's  good  stuff,  and  no  mistake. 
I  have  not  had  such  a  drink  since  I  come  South. 
I  feel  now  as  if  I'd  like  to  whip  ten  Scceshers." 

From  the  line  of  the  smoke  it  appeared  to  me 
that  the  action  was  in  an  oblique  line  from  our 
left,  extending  farther  outwards  towards  the 
right,  bisected  by  a  road  from  Centreville,  which 
descended  the  hill  close  at  hand  and  ran  right 
across  the  undulating  plain,  its  course  being 
marked  by  the  white  covers  of  the  baggage  and 
commissariat  waggons  as  far  as  a  turn  of  the  road, 
where  the  trees  closed  in  upon  them.  Beyond 
the  right  of  the  curling  smoke  clouds  of  dust  ap 
peared  from  time  to  time  in  the  distance,  as  if 
bodies  of  cavalry  were  moving  over  a  sandy 
plain. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  exultations  and  boast 
ings  of  the  people  at  Centreville,  I  was  well  con 
vinced  no  advance  of  any  importance  or  any 
great  success  had  been  achieved,  because  the 
ammunition  and  baggage  waggons  had  never 
moved,  nor  had  the  reserves  received  any  orders 
to  follow  in  the  line  of  the  army. 

.The  clouds  of  dust  on  the  right  were  quite  in 
explicable.  As  we  were  looking,  my  philosophic 
companion  asked  me  in  perfect  seriousness, 
"  Are  we  really  seeing  a  battle  now  ?  Are  they 
supposed  to  be  fighting  where  all  that  smoke  is 
going  on  ?  This  is  rather  interesting,  you  know." 

Up  came  our  black  boy.  "Not  find  a  bit  to 
eat,  sir,  in  all  the  place."  We  had,  however,  my 
little  paper  of  sandwiches,  and  descended  the 


168 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


hill  to  a  bye  lane  off  the  village,  where,  seated  in 
the  shade  of  the  gig,  Mr.  Warre  and  myself,  di 
viding  our  provision  with  the  driver,  wound  up 
a  very  scanty,  but  much  relished,  repast  with  a 
bottle  of  tea  and  half  the  bottle  of  Bordeaux  and 
water,  the  remainder  being  prudently  reserved  at 
my  request  for  contingent  remainders.  Leaving 
orders  for  the  saddle-horse,  which  was  eating  his 
first  meal,  to  be  brought  up  the  moment  he  was 
ready,  I  went  with  Mr.  Warre  to  the  hill  once 
more,  and  observed  that  the  line  had  not  sensibly 
altered  whilst  we  were  away. 

An  English  gentleman,  who  came  up  flushed 
and  heated  from  the  plain,  told  us  that  the  Fed 
erals  had  been  advancing  steadily  in  spite  of  a 
stubborn  resistance,  and  had  behaved  most  gal 
lantly. 

Loud  cheers  suddenly  burst  from  the  specta 
tors  as  a  man  dressed  in  the  uniform  of  an  offi 
cer,  whom  I  had  seen  riding  violently  across  the 
plain  in  an  open  space  below,  galloped  along  the 
front,  waving  his  cap  and  shouting  at  the  top  of 
his  voice.  He  was  brought  up  by  the  press  of 
people  round  his  horse  close  to  where  I  stood. 
"We've  whipped  them  on  all  points,"  he  cried. 
"  We  have  taken  all  their  batteries.  They  are 
retreating  as  fast  as  they  can,  and  we  are  after 
them."  Such  cheers  as  rent  the  welkin !  The 
Congress-men  shook  hands  with  each  other,  and 
cried  out,  "Bully  for  us!  Bravo!  didn't  I  tell 
you  so?"  The  Germans  uttered  their  martial 
cheers,  and  the  Irish  hurrahed  wildly.  At  this 
moment  my  horse  was  brought  up  the  hill,  and  I 
mounted  and  turned  towards  the  road  to  the 
front,  whilst  Mr.  Warre  and  his  companion  pro 
ceeded  straight  down  the  hill. 

By  the  time  I  reached  the  lane,  already  men 
tioned,  which  was  in  a  few  minutes,  the'  string 
of  commissariat  waggons  was  moving  onwards 
pretty  briskly,  and  I  was  detained  until  my  friends 
appeared  at  the  roadside.  I  told  Mr.  Warre  I 
was  going  forward  to  the  front  as  fast  as  I  could, 
but  that  I  would  come  back,  under  any  circum 
stances,  about  an  hour  before  dusk,  and  would  go 
straight  to  the  spot  where  we  had  put  up  the  gig 
by  the  roadside,  in  order  to  return  to  Washing 
ton.  Then  getting  into  the  fields,  I  pressed  my 
horse,  which  was  quite  recovered  from  his  twen 
ty-seven  miles'  ride  and  full  of  spirit  and  mettle, 
as  fast  as  I  could,  making  detours  here  and  there 
to  get  through  the  ox  fences,  and  by  the  small 
streams  which  cut  up  the  country.  The  firing 
did  not  increase,  but  rather  diminished  in  vol 
ume,  though  it  now  sounded  close  at  hand. 

I  had  ridden  between  three  and  a  half  and 
four  miles,  as  well  as  I  could  judge,  when  I  was 
obliged  to  turn  for  the  third  and  fourth  time  into 
the  road  by  a  considerable  stream,  which  was 
spanned  by  a  bridge,  towards  which  I  was  thread 
ing  my  way,  when  my  attention  was  attracted  by 
loud  shouts  in  advance,  and  I  perceived  several 
waggons  coming  from  the  direction  of  the  battle 
field,  the  drivers  of  which  were  endeavouring  to 
force  their  horses  past  the  ammunition  carts  go 
ing  in  the  contrary  direction  near  the  bridge ;  a 
thick  cloud  of  dust  rose  behind  them,  and  run 
ning  by  the  side  of  the  waggons  were  a  number 
of  men  in  uniform,  whom  I  supposed  to  be  the 
guard.  My  first  impression  was  that  the  wag 
gons  were  returning  for  fresh  supplies  of  ammu 
nition.  But  every  moment  the  crowd  increased ; 
drivers  and  men  cried  out  with  the  most  vehe 


ment  gestures,  ' '  Turn  back !  Turn  back !  We 
are  whipped."  They  seized  the  heads  of  the 
horses  and  swore  at  the  opposing  drivers. 
Emerging  from  the  crowd,  a  breathless  man,  in 
the  uniform  of  an  officer,  with  an  empty  scab 
bard  dangling  by  his  side,  was  cut  off  by  getting 
between  my  horse  and  a  cart  for  a  moment. 
"What  is  the  matter,  sir?  What  is  all  this 
about?"  "Why  it  means  we  are  pretty  badly 
whipped,  that's  the  truth,"  he  gasped,  and  con 
tinued. 

By  this  time  the  confusion  had  been  commu 
nicating  itself  through  the  line  of  waggons  to 
wards  the  rear,  and  the  drivers  endeavoured  to 
turn  round  their  vehicles  in  the  narrow  road, 
which  caused  the  usual  amount  of  imprecations 
from  the  men  and  plunging  and  kicking  from 
the  horses. 

The  crowd  from  the  front  continually  in 
creased,  the  heat,  the  uproar,  and  the  dust  were 
beyond  description,  and  these  were  augmented 
when  some  cavalry  soldiers,  flourishing  their  sa 
bres  and  preceded  by  an  officer,  who  cried  out, 
"  Make  way  there — make  way  there  for  the  Gen 
eral,"  attempted  to  force  a  covered  waggon,  in 
which  was  seated  a  man  with  a  bloody  handker 
chief  round  his  head,  through  the  press. 

I  had  succeeded  in  getting  across  the  bridge 
with  great  difficulty  before  the  waggon  came  up, 
and  I  saw  the  crowd  on  the  road  was  still  gath 
ering  thicker  and  thicker.  Again  I  asked  an 
officer,  who  was  on  foot,  with  his  sword  under 
his  arm,  "What  is  all  this  for?"  "We  are 
whipped,  sir.  We  are  all  in  retreat.  You  are 
all  to  go  back."  "  Can  you  tell  me  where  I  can 
find  General  M'Dowell?"  "No!  nor  can  any 
one  else." 

A  few  shells  could  be  heard  bursting  not  very 
far  off,  but  there  was  nothing  to  account  for  such 
an  extraordinary  scene.  A  third  officer,  how 
ever,  confirmed  the  report  that  the  whole  army 
was  in  retreat,  and  that  the  Federals  were  beaten 
on  all  points,  but  there  was  nothing  in  this  dis 
order  to  indicate  a  general  rout.  All  these  things 
took  place  in  a  few  seconds.  I  got  up  out  of  the 
road  into  a  corn-field,  through  which  men  were 
hastily  walking  or  running,  their  faces  streaming 
with  perspiration,  and  generally  without  arms, 
and  worked  my  way  for  about  half  a  mile  or  so, 
as  well  as  I  could  judge,  against  an  increasing 
stream  of  fugitives,  the  ground  being  strewed 
with  coats,  blankets,  firelocks,  cooking  tins,  caps, 
belts,  bayonets  —  asking  in  vain  where  General 
M'Dowell  was. 

Again  I  was  compelled  by  the  condition  of  the 
fields  to  come  into  the  road ;  and  having  passed 
a  piece  of  wood  and  a  regiment  which  seemed 
to  be  moving  back  in  column  of  march  in  toler 
ably  good  order,  I  turned  once  more  into  an 
opening  close  to  a  white  house,  not  far  from  the 
lane,  beyond  which  there  was  a  belt  of  forest. 
Two  field-pieces  unlimbered  near  the  house, 
with  panting  horses  in  the  rear,  were  pointed  to 
wards  the  front,  and  along  the  road  beside  them 
there  swept  a  tolerably  steady  column  of  men 
mingled  with  field  ambulances  and  light  bag 
gage  carts,  back  to  Centreville.  I  had  just 
stretched  out  my  hand  to  get  a  cigar-light  from 
a  German  gunner,  when  the  dropping  shots 
which  had  been  sounding  through  the  woods  in 
front  of  us,  suddenly  swelled  into  an  animated 
fire.  In  a  few  seconds  a  crowd  of  men  rushed 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


169 


out  of  the  wood  down  towards  the  guns,  and  the 
artillerymen  near  me  seized  the  trail  of  a  piece, 
and  were  wheeling  it  round  to  fire,  when  an  offi 
cer  or  sergeant  called  out,  "  Stop !  stop !  They 
are  our  own  men ;"  and  in  two  or  three  minutes 
the  whole  battalion  came  sweeping  past  the  guns 
at  the  double,  and  in  the  utmost  disorder.  Some 
of  the  artillerymen  dragged  the  horses  out  of  the 
tumbrils ;  and  for  a  moment  the  confusion  was 
so  great  I  could  not  understand  what  had  taken 
place;  but  a  soldier  whom  I  stopped,  said,  "We 
ai-e  pursued  by  their  cavalry ;  they  have  cut  us 
all  to  pieces." 

Murat  himself  would  not  have  dared  to  move 
a  squadron  on  such  ground.  However,  it  could 
not  be  doubted  that  something  serious  was  tak 
ing  place ;  and  at  that  moment  a  shell  burst  in 
front  of  the  house,  scattering  the  soldiers  near 
it,  which  Avas  followed  by  another  that  bounded 
along  the  road  ;  and  in  a  few  minutes  more  out 
came  another  regiment  from  the  wood,  almost 
as  broken  as  the  first.  The  scene  on  the  road 
had  now  assumed  an  aspect  which  has  not  a  par 
allel  in  any  description  I  have  ever  read.  In 
fantry  soldiers  on  mules  and  draught  horses, 
with  the  harness  clinging  to  their  heels,  as  much 
frightened  as  their  riders;  negro  servants  on 
their  masters'  chargers ;  ambulances  crowded 
with  unbounded  soldiers ;  waggons  swarming 
with  men  who  threw  out  the  contents  in  the 
road  to  make  room,  grinding  through  a  shouting, 
screaming  mass  of  men  on  foot,  who  were  liter 
ally  yelling  with  rage  at  every  halt,  and  shriek 
ing  out,  "Here  are  the  cavalry!  Will  you  get 
on?"  This  portion  of  the  force  was -evidently 
in  discord. 

There  was  nothing  left  for  it  but  to  go  with 
the  current  one  could  not  stem.  I  turned  round 
my  horse  from  the  deserted  guns,  and  endeav 
oured  to  find  out  what  had  occurred  as  I  rode 
quietly  back  on  the  skirts  of  the  crowd.  I  talk 
ed  with  those  on  all  sides  of  me.  Some  uttered 
prodigious  nonsense,  describing  batteries  tier  over 
tier,  and  ambuscades,  and  blood  running  knee 
deep.  Others  described  how  their  boys  carried 
whole  lines  of  intrenchments,  but  were  beaten 
back  for  want  of  reinforcements.  The  names  of 
many  regiments  were  mentioned  as  being  utter 
ly  destroyed.  Cavalry  and  bayonet  charges  and 
masked  batteries  played  prominent  parts  in  all 
the  narrations.  Some  of  the  officers  seemed  to 
feel  the  disgrace  of  defeat;  but  the  strangest 
thing  was  the  general  indifference  with  which  the 
event  seemed  to  be  regarded  by  those  who  col 
lected  their  senses  as  soon  as  they  got  out  of  fire, 
and  who  said  they  were  just  going  as  far  as  Cen- 
treville,  and  would  have  a  big  fight  to-morrow. 

By  this  time  I  was  unwillingly  approaching 
Centreville  in  the  midst  of  heat,  dust,  confusion, 
imprecations  inconceivable.  On  arriving  at  the 
place  where  a  small  rivulet  crossed  the  road,  the 
throng  increased  still  more.  The  ground  over 
which  I  had  passed  going  out  was  now  covered 
with  arms,  clothing  of  all  kinds,  accoutrements 
thrown  off  and  left  to  be  trampled  in  the  dust 
under  the  hoofs  of  men  and  horses.  The  runa 
ways  ran  alongside  the  waggons,  striving  to  force 
themselves  in  among  the  occupants,  who  resisted 
tooth  and  nail.  The  drivers  spurred,  and  whip 
ped,  and  urged  the  horses  to  the  utmost  of  their 
bent.  I  felt  an  inclination  to  laugh,  which  was 
overcome  by  disgust,  and  by  that  vague  sense  of 


something  extraordinary  taking  place  which  is 
experienced  when  a  man  sees  a  number  of  peo 
ple  acting  as  if  driven  by  some  unknown  terror. 
As  I  rode  in  the  crowd,  with  men  clinging  to  the 
stirrup-leathers,  or  holding  on  by  anything  they 
could  lay  hands  on,  so  that  I  had  some  appre 
hension  of  being  pulled  off,  I  spoke  to  the  men, 
and  asked  them  over  and  over  again  not  to  be 
in  such  a  hurry.  "There's  no  enemy  to  pursue 
you.  All  the  cavalry  in  the  world  could  not  get 
at  you."  But  I  might  as  well  have  talked  to  the 
stones. 

For  my  own  part,  I  wanted  to  get  out  of  the 
ruck  as  fast  as  I  could,  for  the  heat  and  dust 
were  very  distressing,  particularly  to  a  half- 
starved  man.  Many  of  the  fugitives  were  in  the 
last  stages  of  exhaustion,  and  some  actually  sank 
down  by  the  fences,  at  the  risk  of  being  tram 
pled  to  death.  Above  the  roar  of  the  fight, 
which  was  like  the  rush  of  a  great  river,  the 
guns  burst  forth  from  time  to  time. 

The  road  at  last  became  somewhat  clearer; 
for  I  had  got  ahead  of  some  of  the  ammunition 
train  and  waggons,  and  the  others  were  dashing 
up  the  hill  towards  Centreville.  The  men's 
great-coats  and  blankets  had  been  stowed  in  the 
trains  ;  but  the  fugitives  had  apparently  thrown 
them  out  on  the  road,  to  make  room  for  them 
selves.  Just  beyond  the  stream  I  saw  a  heap  of 
clothing  tumble  out  of  a  large  covered  cai't,  and 
cried  out  after  the  driver,  "Stop!  stop!  All 
the  things  are  tumbling  out  of  the  cart."  But 
my  zeal  was  checked  by  a  scoundrel  putting  his 
head  out,  and  shouting  with  a  curse,  "If  you 

try  to  stop  the  team,  I'll  blow  your brains 

out."  My  brains  advised  me  to  adopt  the  prin 
ciple  of  non-intervention, 

It  never  occurred  to  me  that  this  was  a  grand 
debacle.  All  along  I  believed  the  mass  of  the 
army  was  not  broken,  and  that  all  I  saw  around 
was  the  result  of  confusion  created  in  a  crude 
organisation  by  a  forced  retreat;  and  knowing 
the  reserves  were  at  Centreville  and  beyond,  I 
said  to  myself,  "Let  us  see  how  this  will  be 
when  we  get  to  the  hill."  I  indulged  in  a  quiet 
chuckle,  too,  at  the  idea  of  my  philosophical 
friend  and  his  stout  companion  finding  them 
selves  suddenly  enveloped  in  the  crowd  of  fugi 
tives,  but  knew  they  could  easily  have  regained 
their  original  position  on  the  hill.  Trotting 
along  briskly  through  the  fields,  I  arrived  at  the 
foot  of  the  slope  on  which  Centreville  stands,  and 
met  a  German  regiment  just  deploying  into  line 
very  well  and  steadily — the  men  in  the  rear  com 
panies  laughing,  smoking,  singing,  and  jesting 
with  the  fugitives,  who  were  filing  past ;  but  no 
thought  of  stopping  the  waggons,  as  the  orders 
repeated  from  mouth  to  mouth  were  that  they 
were  to  fall  back  beyond  Centreville. 

The  air  of  the  men  was  good.  The  officers 
were  cheerful,  and  one  big  German  with  a  great 
pipe  in  his  bearded  mouth,  with  spectacles  on 
nose,  amused  himself  by  pricking  the  horses  with 
his  sabre  point,  as  he  passed,  to  the  sore  discom 
fiture  of  the  riders.  Behind  the  regiment  came 
a  battery  of  brass  field-pieces,  and  another  regi 
ment  in  column  of  march  was  following  the 
guns.  They  were  going  to  form  line  at  the  end 
of  the  slope,  and  no  fairer  position  could  well  be 
offered  for  a  defensive  attitude,  although  it  might 
be  turned.  But  it  was  getting  too  late  for  the 
enemy,  wherever  they  were,  to  attempt  such  an 


170 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


extensive  operation.  Several  times  I  had  been 
asked  by  officers  and  men,  "Where  do  you 
think  we  will  halt?  Where  are  the  rest  of 'the 
army?"  I  always  replied  " Centreville,"  and  I 
had  heard  hundreds  of  the  fugitives  say  they 
were  going  to  Centreville. 

I  rode  up  the  road,  turned  into  the  little  street 
which  carries  the  road  on  the  right-hand  side 
to  Fairfax  Court-house  and  the  hill,  and  went 
straight  to  the  place  where  I  had  left  the  buggy 
in  a  lane  on  the  left  of  the  road  beside  a  small 
house  and  shed,  expecting  to  find  Mr.  Warre 
ready  for  a  start,  as  I  had  faithfully  promised 
Lord  Lyons  he  should  be  back  that  night  in 
Washington.  The  buggy  was  not  there.  I 
pulled  open  the  door  of  the  shed  in  which  the 
horses  had  been  sheltered  out  of  the  sun.  They 
were  gone.  "  Oh,  "said  I,  to  myself,  "  of  course ! 
What  a  stupid  fellow  I  am  !  Warre  has  had  the 
horses  put  in,  and  taken  the  gig  to  the  top  of  the 
hill,  in  order  to  see  the  last  of  it  before  we  go." 
And  so  I  rode  over  to  the  ridge ;  but  arriving 
there,  could  see  no  sign  of  our  vehicle  far  or 
near.  There  were  two  carriages  of  some  kind 
or  other  still  remaining  on  the  hill,  and  a  few 
spectators,  civilians  and  military,  gazing  on  the 
scene  below,  which  was  softened  in  the  golden 
rays  of  the  declining  sun.  The  smoke  wreaths 
had  ceased  to  curl  over  the  green  sheets  of  bil 
lowy  forest  as  sea  foam  crisping  in  a  gentle 
breeze  breaks  the  lines  of  the  ocean.  But  far 
and  near  yellow  and  dun-coloured  piles  of  dust 
seamed  the  landscape,  leaving  behind  them  long 
trailing  clouds  of  lighter  vapours  which  were 
dotted  now  and  then  by  white  puff-balls  from  the 
bursting  of  shell.  On  the  right  these  clouds  were 
very  heavy  and  seemed  to  approach  rapidly,  and 
it  occurred  to  me  they  might  be  caused  by  an 
advance  of  the  much-spoken-of  and  little  seen 
cavalry ;  and  remembering  the  cross-road  from 
German  Town,  it  seemed  a  very  fine  and  very 
feasible  operation  for  the  Confederates  to  cut 
right  in  on  the  line  of  retreat  and  communica 
tion,  in  which  case  the  fate  of  the  army  and  of 
Washington  could  not  be  dubious.  There  were 
now  few  civilians  on  the  hill,  and  these  were 
thinning  away.  Some  were  gesticulating  and 
explaining  to  one  another  the  causes  of  the  re 
treat,  looking  very  hot  and  red.  The  confusion 
among  the  last  portion  of  the  carriages  and  fu 
gitives  on  the  road,  which  I  had  outstripped,  had 
been  renewed  again,  and  the  crowd  there  pre 
sented  a  remarkable  and  ludicrous  aspect  through 
the  glass ;  but  there  were  two  strong  battalions 
in  good  order  near  the  foot  of  the  hill,  a  battery 
on  the  slope,  another  on  the  top,  and  a  portion 
of  a  regiment  in  and  about  the  houses  of  the 
village. 

A  farewell  look  at  the  scene  presented  no  new 
features.  Still  the  clouds  of  dust  moved  on 
wards  denser  and  higher  ;  flashes  of  arms  light 
ed  them  up  at  times  ;  the  fields  were  dotted  by 
fugitives,  amorig  whom  many  mounted  men  were 
marked  by  their  greater  speed,  and  the  little 
flocks  of  dust  rising  from  the  horses'  feet. 

I  put  up  my  glass,  and  turning  from  the  hill, 
with  difficulty  forced  my  way  through  the  crowd 
of  vehicles  which  were  making  their  way  towards 
the  main  road  in  the  direction  of  the  lane,  hop 
ing  that  by  some  lucky  accident  I  might  find  the 
gig  in  waiting  for  me.  But  I  sought  in  vain  ;  a 
sick  soldier,  who  was  on  a  stretcher  in  front  of 


the  house,  near  the  corner  of  the  lane,  leaning  on 
his  elbow,  and  looking  at  the  stream  of  men  and 
carriages,  asked  me  if  I  could  tell  him  what  they 
were  in  such  a  hurry  for,  and  I  said  they  were 
merely  getting  back  to  their  bivouacs.  A  man 
dressed  in  civilian's  clothes  grinned  as  I  spoke. 
"  I  think  they'll  go  farther  than  that,"  said  he  ; 
and  then  added,  "If  you're  looking  for  the  wag- 
gon  you  came  in,  it's  pretty  well  back  to  Wash 
ington  by  this  time.  I  think  I  saw  you  down 
theere  with  a  nigger  and  two  men.  Yes. 
They're  all  off,  gone  more  than  an  hour  and  a 
half  ago,  I  think,  and  a  stout  man— I  thought 
was  you  at  first— along  with  them." 

Nothing  was  left  for  it  but  to  brace  up  the 
girths  for  a  ride  to  the  Capitol,  for  which,  hun 
gry  and  fagged  as  I  was,  I  felt  very  little  inclina 
tion.  I  was  trotting  quietly  down  the  hill  road 
beyond  Centreville,  when  suddenly  the  guns  on 
the  other  side,  or  from  a  battery  very  near, 
opened  fire,  and  a  fresh  outburst  of  artillery 
sounded  through  the  woods.  In  an  instant  the 
mass  of  vehicles  and  retreating  soldiers,  team 
sters,  and  civilians,  as  if  agonised  by  an  electric 
shock,  quivered  throughout  the  tortuous  line. 
With  dreadful  shouts  and  cursings,  the  drivers 
lashed  their  maddened  horses,  and  leaping  from, 
the  carts,  left  them  to  their  fate,  and  ran  on 
foot.  Artillerymen  and  foot  soldiers,  and  ne 
groes  mounted  on  gun  horses,  with  the  chain 
traces  and  loose  trappings  trailing  in  the  dust, 
spurred  and  flogged  their  steeds  down  the  road 
or  by  the  side  paths.  The  firing  continued  and 
seemed  to  approach  thejnll,  and  at  every  report 
the  agitated  body  of  horsemen  and  waggons  was 
seized,  as  it  were,  with  a  fresh  convulsion. 

Once  more  the  dreaded  cry,  "The  cavalry! 
cavalry  are  coming!"  rang  through  the  crowd, 
and  looking  back  to  Centreville,  I  perceived  com 
ing  down  the  hill,  between  me  and  the  sky,  a 
number  of  mounted  men,  who  might,  at  a  hasty 
glance,  be  taken  for  horsemen  in  the^  act  of  sabre- 
ing  the  fugitives.  In  reality,  they  were  soldiers 
and  civilians,  with,  I  regret  to  say,  some  officers 
among  them,  who  were  whipping  and  striking 
their  horses  with  sticks  or  whatever  else  they 
could  lay  hands  on.  I  called  out  to  the  men 
who  were  frantic  with  terror  beside  me,  "They 
are  not  cavalry  at  all ;  they're  your  own  men" 
— but  they  did  not  heed  me.  A  fellow  who  was 
shouting  out,  "  Run  !  run  !"  as  loud  as  he  could, 
beside  me,  seemed  to  take  delight  in  creating 
alarm  ;  and  as  he  was  perfectly  collected  as  far 
as  I  could  judge,  I  said,  "What  on  earth  are 
you  running  for?  What  are  you  afraid  of?" 
He  was  in  the  roadside  below  me,  and  at  once 
turning  on  me,  and  exclaiming,  "  I'm  not  afraid 
of  you,"  presented  his  piece  and  pulled  the  trig 
ger  so  instantaneously,  that,  had  it  gone  off,  I 
could  not  have  swerved  from  the  ball.  As  the 
scoundrel  deliberately  drew  up  to  examine  the 
nipple,  I  judged  it  best  not  to  give  him  another 
chance,  and  spurred  on  through  the  crowd,  where 
any  man  could  have  shot  as  many  as  he  pleased 
without  interruption.  The  only  conclusion  I 
came  to  was,  that  he  was  mad  or  drunken. 
When  I  was  passing  by  the  line  of  the  bivouacs 
a  battalion  of  men  came  tumbling  down  the 
bank  from  the  field  into  the  road,  with  fixed 
bayonets,  and  as  some  fell  in  the  road  and  others 
tumbled  on  top  of  them,  there  must  have  been  a 
few  ingloriously  wounded. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


171 


I  galloped  on  for  a  short  distance  to  head  the 
ruck,  for  I  could  not  tell  whether  this  body  of  in 
fantry  intended  moving  back  towards  Centre- 
ville  or  were  coming  down  the  road ;  but  the 
mounted  men  galloping  furiously  past  me,  with 
a  cry  of  "  Cavalry !  cavalry!"  on  their  lips, 
swept  on  faster  than  I  did,  augmenting  the  alarm 
and  excitement.  I  came  up  with  two  officers 
who  were  riding  more  leisur.ely ;  and  touching 
my  hat,  said,  ' '  I  venture  to  suggest  that  these 
men  should  be  stopped,  sir.  If  not,  they  will 
alarm  the  whole  of  the  post  and  pickets  on  to 
Washington.  They  will  fly  next,  and  the  con 
sequences  will  be  most  disastrous."  One  of  the 
two,  looking  at  me  for  a  moment,  nodded  his 
head  without  saying  a  word,  spurred  his  horse 
to  full  speed,  and  dashed  on  in  front  along  the 
road.  Following  more  leisurely,  I  observed  the 
fugitives  in  front  were  suddenly  checked  in  their 
speed ;  and  as  I  turned  my  horse  into  the  wood 
by  the  roadside  to  get  on  so  as  to  prevent  the 
chance  of  another  blockup,  I  passed  several  pri 
vate  vehicles,  in  one  of  which  Mr.  Raymond,  of 
the  New  York  Times,  was  seated  with  some 
friends,  looking  by  no  means  happy.  He  says 
in  his  report  to  his  paper,  "About  a  mile  this 
side  of  Centreville  a  stampede  took  place  amongst 
the  teamsters  and  others,  which  threw  every 
thing  into  the  utmost  confusion,  and  inflicted 
very  serious  injuries.  Mr.  Eaton,  of  Michigan, 
in  trying  to  arrest  the  flight  of  some  of  these 
men,  was  shot  by  one  of  them,  the  ball  taking 
effect  in  his  hand."  He  asked  me,  in  some  anx 
iety,  what  I  thought  would  happen.  I  replied, 
"No  doubt  M'Dowell  will  stand  fast  at  Centre 
ville  to-night.  These  are  mere  runaways,  and 
unless  the  enemy's  cavalry  succeed  in  getting 
through  at  this  road,  there  is  nothing  to  appre 
hend." 

And  I  continued  through  the  wood  till  I  got  a 
clear  space  in  front  on  the  road,  along  which  a 
regiment  of  infantry  was  advancing  towards  me. 
They  halted  ere  I  came  up,  and  with  levelled 
firelocks  arrested  the  men  on  horses  and  the 
carts  and  waggons  galloping  towards  them,  and 
blocked  up  the  road  to  stop  their  progress.  As 
I  tried  to  edge  by  on  the  right  of  the  column  by 
the  left  of  the  road,  a  soldier  presented  his  fire 
lock  at  my  head  from  the  higher  ground  on 
which  he  stood,  for  the  road  had  a  deep  trench 
cut  on  the  side  by  which  I  was  endeavouring  to 
pass,  and  sung  out,  "Halt!  Stop  —  or  I  fire!" 
The  officers  in  front  were  waving  their  swords 
and  shouting  out,  "Don't  let  a  soul  pass  !  Keep 
back!  keep  back!"  Bowing  to  the  officer  who 
was  near  me,  *  said,  "I  beg  to  assure  you,  sir,  I 
am  not  running  away.  I  am  a  civilian  and  a 
British  subject.  I  have  done  my  'best  as  I  came 
along  to  stop  this  disgraceful  rout.  I  am  in  no 
hurry;  I  merely  want  to  get  back  to  Washing 
ton  to-night.  I  have  been  telling  them  all  along 
there  are  no  cavalry  near  us."  The  officer  to 
whom  I  was  speaking,  young  and  somewhat  ex 
cited,  kept  repeating,  "Keep  back,  sir!  keep 
back!  you  must  keep  back."  Again  I  said  to 
him,  "I  assure  you  I  am  not  with  this  crowd; 
my  pulse  is  as  cool  as  your  own."  But  as  he 
paid  no  attention  to  what  I  said,  I  suddenly  be 
thought  me  of  General  Scott's  letter,  and  ad 
dressing  another  officer,  said,  "I  am  a  civilian 
going  to  Washington  ;  will  you  be  kind  enough 
to  look  at  this  pass,  specially  given  to  me  by  Gen 


eral  Scott  ?"  The  officer  looked  at  it,  and  hand 
ed  it  to  a  mounted  man,  either  adjutant  or  colo 
nel,  who,  having  examined  it,  returned  it  to  me, 
saying,  "  Oh,  yes  !  certainly.  Pass  that  man!" 
And  with  a  cry  of  "Pass  that  man  !'*along  the 
line,  I  rode  down  the  trench  very  leisurely,  and 
got  out  on  the  road,  which  was  now  clear,  though 
some  fugitives  had  stolen  through  the  woods  on 
the  flanks  of  the  column  and  were  in  front  of 
me. 

A  little  further  on  there  was  a  cart  on  the 
right-hand  side  of  the  road,  surrounded  by  a 
group  of  soldiers.  I  was  trotting  past,  when  a 
respectable-looking  man  in  a  semi-military  garb, 
coming  out  from  the  group,  said,  in  a  tone  of 
much  doubt  and  distress,  "Can  you  tell  me, 
sir,  for  God's  sake,  where  the  69th  New  York 
are  ?  These  men  tell  me  they  are  all  cut  to 
pieces."  "And  so  they  are,"  exclaimed  one  of 
the  fellows,  who  had  the  number  of  the  regiment 
on  his  cap. 

"You  hear  what  they  say,  sir?"  exclaimed 
the  man. 

"I  do,  but  I  really  cannot  tell  you  where  the 
G9th  are." 

"I'm  in  charge  of  these  mails,  and  I'll  deliv 
er  them  if  I  die  for  it ;  but  is  it  safe  for  me  to  go 
on  ?  You  are  a  gentleman,  and  I  can  depend 
on  your  word." 

His  assistant  and  himself  were  in  the  greatest 
perplexity  of  mind,  but  all  I  could  say  was,  "  I 
really  can't  tell  you ;  I  believe  the  army  will  halt 
at  Centreville  to-night,  and  I  think  you  may  go 
on  there  with  the  greatest  safety,  if  you  can  get 
through  the  crowd."  "Faith,  then,  he  can't," 
exclaimed  one  of  the  soldiers. 

"Why  not?"  "  Sur.e,  arn't  we  cut  to  pieces? 
Didn't  I  hear  the  kurnel  himsilf  saying  we  was 
all  of  us  to  cut  and  run,  every  man  on  his  own 
hook,  as  well  as  he  could  ?  Stop  at  Cinthreville, 
indeed!" 

I  bade  the  mail  agent*  good  evening  and  rode 
on,  but  even  in  this  short  colloquy  stragglers  on 
foot  and  on  horseback,  who  had  turned  the  flanks 
of  the  regiment  by  side  paths  or  through  the 
woods,  came  pouring  along  the  road  once  more. 

«  I  have  since  met  the  person  referred  to,  an  English 
man  living  in  Washington,  and  well  known  at  the  Lega 
tion  and  elsewhere.  Mr.  Dawson  came  to  tell  me  that  he 
had  seen  a  letter  in  an  American  journal,  which  was  cop 
ied  extensively  all  over  the  Union,  in  which  the  writer 
stated  he  accompanied  me  on  my  return  to  Fairfax  Court 
house,  and  that  the  incident  I  related  in  my  account  of 
Bull  Run  did  not  occur,  hut  that  he  was  the  individual  re 
ferred  to,  and  could  swear  with  his  assistant  that  every 
word  I  wrote  was  true.  I  did  not  need  any  such  corrobo- 
ration  for  the  satisfaction  of  any  who  know  me ;  and  I  waa 
quite  well  aware  that  if  one  came  from  the  dead  to  bear 
testimony  in  my  favour  before  the  American  journals  and 
public,  the  evidence  would  not  countervail  the  slander  of 
any  characterless  scribe  who  sought  to  gain  a  moment's 
notoriety  by  a  flat  contradiction  of  my  narrative.  I  may 
add,  that  Dawson  begged  of  me  not  to  bring  him  before 

the  public,  u  because  1  am  now  sutler  to  the th,  over 

in  Virginia,  and  they  would  dismiss  me."  u  What  I  for 
certifying  to  the  truth?"  "You  know,  sir,  it  might  do 
me  harm."  Whilst  on  this  subject,  let  me  remark  that 
some  time  afterwards  I  was  in  Mr.  Brady's  photographic 
studio  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  Washington,  when  the 
very  intelligent  and  obliging  manager  introduced  himself 
to  me,  and  said  that  he  wished  to  have  an  opportunity  of 
repeating  to  me  personally  what  he  had  frequently  told 
persons  in  the  place,  that  he  could  bear  the  fullest  testi 
mony  to  the  complete  accuracy  of  my  account  of  the  panic 
from  Centreville  down  the  road  at  the  time  1  left,  and  that 
he  and  his  assistants,  who  were  on  the  spot  trying  to  get 
away  their  photographic  van  and  apparatus,  could  certify- 
that  my  description  fell  far  short  of  the  disgraceful  spec 
tacle  and  of  the  excesses  of  the  flight. 


172 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Somewhere  about  this  I  was  accosted  by  a 
stout,  elderly  man,  with  the  air  and  appearance 
of  a  respectable  mechanic,  or  small  tavern-keep 
er,  who  introduced  himself  as  having  met  me  at 
Cairo.  He  poured  out  a  flood  of  woes  on  me, 
how  he  had  lost  his  friend  and  companion,  near 
ly  lost  his  seat  several  times,  was  unaccustomed 
to  riding,  was  suffering  much  pain  from  the  un 
usual  position  and  exercise,  did  not  know  the 
road,  feared  he  would  never  be  able  to  get  on, 
dreaded  he  might  be  captured  and  ill-treated  if 
he  was  known,  and  such  topics  as  a  selfish  man 
in  a  good  deal  of  pain  or  fear  is  likely  to  indulge 
in.  I  calmed  his  apprehensions  as  well  as  I 
could,  by  saying,  "I  had  no  doubt  M'Dowell 
would  halt  and  show  fight  at  Centreville,  and  be 
able  to  advance  from  it  in  a  day  or  two  to  renew 
the  fight  again  ;  that  he  couldn't  miss  the  road ; 
whiskey  and  tallow  were  good  for  abrasions ;" 
and  as  I  was  riding  very  slowly,  he  jogged  along, 
for  he  was  a  burr,  and  would  stick,  with  many 
"Oh  dears  !  Oh!  dear  me  !"  for  most  part  of 
the  way,  joining  me  at  intervals,  till  I  reached 
Fairfax  Court-house.  A  body  of  infantiy  were 
under  arms  in  a  grove  near  the  Court-house, 
on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  road.  The  door 
and  windows  of  the  houses  presented  crowds  of 
faces  black  and  white ;  and  men  and  women 
stood  out  upon  the  porch,  who  asked  me  as  I 
passed,  " Have  you  been  at  the  fight ?"  "What 
are  they  all  running  for?"  "Are  the  rest  of 
them  coming  on  ?"  to  which  I  gave  the  same  re 
plies  as  before. 

Arrived  at  the  little  inn  where  I  had  halted  in 
the  morning,  I  perceived  the  sharp-faced  woman 
in  black  standing  in  the  verandah  with  an  eld 
erly  man,  a  taller  and  younger  one  dressed  in 
black,  a  little  girl,  and  a  woman  who  stood  in 
the  passage  of  the  door.  I  asked  if  I  could  get 
any  thing  to  eat.  "Not  a  morsel;  there's  not 
a  bit  left  in  the  house,  but  you  can  get  some 
thing,  perhaps,  if  you  like  to  stay  till  supper- 
time."  "Would  you  oblige  me  by  telling  me 
where  I  can  get  some  water  for  my  horse?" 
"Oh,  certainly,"  said  the  elder  man,  and  call 
ing  to  a  negro,  he  directed  him  to  bring  a  buck 
et  from  the  well  or  pump,  into  which  the  thirsty 
brute  buried  its  head  to  the  eyes.  Whilst  the 
horse  was  drinking,  the  taller  or  younger  man, 
leaning  over  the  verandah,  asked  me  quietly, 
"What  are  all  the  people  coming  back  for? — 
what's  set  them  a  running  towards  Alexandria  ?" 

"  Oh,  it's  only  a  fright  the  drivers  of  the  com 
missariat  waggons  have  had  ;  they  are  afraid  of 
the  enemy's  cavalry." 

"  Ah  !"  said  the  man,  and  looking  at  me  nar 
rowly,  he  inquired,  after  a  pause,  "Are  you  an 
American  ?" 

"No,  I  am  not,  thank  God ;  I'm  an  English 
man." 

"  Well,  then."  said  he,  nodding  his  head  and 
speaking  slowly  through  his  teeth,  "there  will 
be  cavalry  after  them  soon  enough ;  there  is 
20,000  of  the  best  horsemen  in  the  world  in  old 
Virginny." 

Having  received  full  directions  from  the  peo 
ple  at  the  inn  for  the  road  to  the  Long  Bridge, 
which  I  was  most  anxious  to  reach  instead  of 
going  to  Alexandria  or  to  Georgetown,  I  bade 
the  Virginian  good  evening  ;  and  seeing  that  my 
Btout  friend,  who  had  also  watered  his  horse  by 
my  advice  at  the  inn,  was  still  clinging  along- 


side,  I  excused  myself  by  saying  I  must  press  on 
to  Washington,  and  galloped  on  for  a  mile,  un 
til  I  got  into  the  cover  of  a  wood,  where  I  dis 
mounted  to  examine  the  horse's  hoofs  and  shift 
the  saddle  for  a  moment,  wipe  the  sweat  off  his 
back,  and  make  him  and  myself  as  comfortable 
as  could  be  for  our  ride  into  Washington,  which 
was  still  seventeen  or  eighteen  miles  before  me. 
I  passed  groups  of  men,  some  on  horseback,  oth 
ers  on  foot,  going  at  a  more  leisurely  rate  to 
wards  the  capital ;  and  as  I  was  smoking  my  last 
cigar  by  the  side  of  the  wood,  I  observed  the 
number  had  rather  increased,  and  that  among 
the  retreating  stragglers  were  some  men  who  ap 
peared  to  be  wounded. 

The  sun  had  set,  but  the  rising  moon  was  add 
ing  every  moment  to  the  lightness  of  the  road 
as  I  mounted  once  more  and  set  out  at  a  long 
trot  for  the  capital.  Presently  I  was  overtaken 
by  a  waggon  with  a  small  escort  of  cavalry  and 
an  officer  riding  in  front.  I  had  seen  the  same 
vehicle  once  or  twice  along  the  road,  and  ob 
served  an  officer  seated  in  it  with  his  head  bound 
up  with  a  handkerchief,  looking  very  pale  and 
ghastly.  The  mounted  officer  leading  the  es 
cort  asked  me  if  I  was  going  into  Washington 
and  knew  the  road.  I  told  him  I  had  never  been 
on  it  before,  but  thought  I  could  find  my  way ; 
"at  any  rate,  we'll  find  plenty  to  tell  us." 
"That's  Colonel  Hunter  inside  the  carriage: 
he's  shot  through  the  throat  and  jaw,  and  I  want 
to  get  him  to  the  doctor's  in  Washington  as  soon 
as  I  can.  Have  you  been  to  the  fight?" 

"No,  sir." 

"  A  member  of  Congress,  I  suppose,  sir?" 

"No,  sir,  I'm  an  Englishman." 

"Oh  indeed,  sir,  then  I'm  glad  you  did  not 
see  it ;  so  mean  a  fight,  sir,  I  never  saw ;  we 
whipped  the  cusses  and  drove  them  before  us, 
and  took  their  batteries  and  spiked  their  guns, 
and  got  right  up  in  among  all  their  dirt-works 
and  great  batteries  and  forts,  driving  them  be 
fore  us  like  sheep,  when  up  more  of  them  would 
get,  as  if  out  of  the  ground ;  then  our  boys  would 
drive  them  again  till  we  were  fairly  worn  out ; 
they  had  nothing  to  eat  since  last  night  and 
nothing  to  drink.  I  myself  have  not  tasted  a 
morsel  since  two  o'clock  last  night.  Well,  there 
we  were,  waiting  for  reinforcements  and  expect 
ing  M'Dowell  and  the  rest  of  the  army,  when 
whish !  they  threw  open  a  whole  lot  of  masked 
batteries  on  us,  and  then  came  down  such  swarms 
of  horsemen  on  black  horses,  all  black  as  you 
never  saw,  and  slashed  our  boys  over  finely. 
The  colonel  was  hit,  and  I  thought  it  best  to  get 
him  off  as  well  as  I  could,  before  it  was  too  late. 
And,  my  God !  when  they  did  take  to  running 
they  did  it  first-rate,  I  can  tell  you,"  and  so  the 
officer,  who  had  evidently  taken  enough  to  affect 
his  empty  stomach  and  head,  chattering  about 
the  fight,  we  trotted  on  in  the  moonlight :  dip 
ping  down  into  the  valleys  on  the  road,  which 
seemed  like  inky  lakes  in  the  shadows  of  the 
black  trees,  then  mounting  up  again  along  the 
white  road,  which  shone  like  a  river  in  the  moon 
light — the  country  silent  as  death,  though  once, 
as  we  crossed  a  small  water-course  and  the  noise 
of  the  carriage  wheels  ceased,  I  called  the  atten 
tion  of  my  companions  to  a  distant  sound,  as  of 
a  great  multitude  of  people  mingled  with  a  faint 
report  of  cannon.  "Do  you  hear  that  ?"  "No, 
I  don't.  But  it's  our  chaps,  no  doubt.  They're 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


173 


coming;  along  fine,  I  can  promise  you."  At  last 
some  miles  further  on  we  came  to  a  picket,  or 
main  guard,  on  the  roadside,  who  ran  forward, 
crying  out,  "  What's  the  news  ?  anything  fresh  ? 
are  we  whipped?  is  it  a  fact?"  "Well,  gen 
tlemen,"  exclaimed  the  Major,  reining  up  for  a 
moment,  "  we  are  knocked  into  a  cocked  hat — 

licked  to  h 1."  "Oh,  pray  don't  say  that," 

I  exclaimed;  "it's  not  quite  so  bad;  it's  only  a 
drawn  battle,  and  the  troops  will  occupy  Centre- 
ville  to-night,  and  the  posts  they  started  from 
this  morning." 

A  little  further  on  we  met  a  line  of  commissa 
riat  carts,  and  my  excited  and  rather  injudicious 
military  friend  appeared  to  take  the  greatest 
pleasure  in  replying  to  their  anxious  queries  for 
news, "  We  are  whipped !  Whipped  like  h . " 

At  the  cross-roads  now  and  then  we  were  per 
plexed,  for  no  one  knew  the  bearings  of  Wash 
ington,  though  the  stars  were  bright  enough  ;  but 
good  fortune  favoured  us  and  kept  us  straight, 
and  at  a  deserted  little  village,  with  a  solitary 
church  on  the  roadside,  I  increased  my  pace, 
bade  good-night  and  good  speed  to  the  officer, 
and  having  kept  company  with  two  men  in  a  gig 
for  some  time,  got  at  length  on  the  guarded  road 
leading  towards  the  capital,  and  was  stopped  by 
the  pickets,  patrols,  and  grand  rounds,  making 
repeated  demand^  for  the  last  accounts  from  the 
field.  The  houses  by  the  roadside  were  all 
closed  up  and  in  darkness.  I  knocked  in  vain  at 
several  for  a  drink  of  water,  but  was  answered 
only  by  the  angry  barkings  of  the  watch -dogs 
from  the  slave  quarters.  It  was  a  peculiarity  of 
the  road  that  the  people,  and  soldiers  I  met,  at 
points  several  miles  apart,  always  insisted  that  I 
was  twelve  miles  from  Washington.  Up  hills, 
down  valleys,  with  the  silent,  grim  woods  for 
ever  by  my  side,  the  white  roads  and  the  black 
shadows  of  men,  still  I  was  twelve  miles  from  the 
Long  Bridge,  but  suddenly  I  came  upon  a  grand 
guard  under- arms,  who  had  quite  different  ideas, 
and  who  said  I  was  only  about  four  miles  from 
the  river:  they  crowded  round  me.  "Well, 
man,  and  how  is  the  fight  going?"  I  repeated 
my  tale.  "  What  doos  he  say  ?"  "  Oh,  begor- 
ra,  he  says  we're  not  bet  at  all  j  it's  all  lies  they 
have  been  telling  us ;  we're  only  going'  back  to 
the  ould  lines  for  the  greater  convaniency  of 
fighting  to-morrow  again;  that's  illigant,  hoo- 
ro!" 

All  by  the  sides  of  the  old  camps  the  men 
were  standing,  lining  the  road,  and  I  was  obliged 
to  evade  many  a  grasp  at  my  bridle  by  shouting 
out,  "Don't  stop  me;  I've  important 'news ;  it's 
all  well!"  and  still  the  good  horse,  refreshed  by 
the  cool  night  air,  went  clattering  on,  till  from 
the  top  of  the  road  beyond  Arlington  I  caught  a 
sight  of  the  lights  of  Washington  and  the  white 
buildings  of  the  Capitol,  and  of  the  Executive 
Mansion,  glittering  like  snow  in  the  moonlight. 
At  the  entrance  to  the  Long  Bridge  the  sentry 
challenged,  and  asked  for  the  countersign.  "I 
have  not  got  it,  but  I've  a  pass  from  General 
Scott."  An  officer  advanced  from  the  guard, 
and  on  reading  the  pass  permitted  me  to  go 
on  without  difficulty.  -  He  said,  "I  have  been 
obliged  to  let  a  good  many  go  over  to-night  be 
fore  you,  Congress-men  and  others.  I  suppose 
you  did  not  expect  to  be  coming  back  so  soon. 
I  fear  it's  a  bad  business."  "  Oh,  not  so  bad, 
after  all ;  I  expected  to  have  been  back  to-night 


before  nine  o'clock,  and  crossed  over  this  morn- 
ing  without  the  countersign."  "  Well,  I  guess," 
said  he,  t;  we  don't  do  such  quick  fighting  as  that 
in  this  country." 

As  I  crossed  the  Long  Bridge  there  was 
scarce  a  sound  to  dispute  the  possession  of  its 
echoes  with  my  horse's  hoofs.  The  poor  beast 
had  carried  me  nobly  and  well,  and  I  made  up 
my  mind  to  buy  him,  as  I  had  no  doubt  he  would 
answer  perfectly  to  carry  me  back  in  a  day  or 
two  to  M 'Do well's  army  by  the  time  he  had  or 
ganised  it  for  a  new  attack  upon  the  enemy's  po 
sition.  Little  did  I  conceive  the  greatness  of  the 
defeat,  the  magnitude  of  the  disasters  which  it 
had  entailed  upon  the  United  States,  or  the  in 
terval  that  would  elapse  before  another  army  set 
out  from  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  onward  to 
Richmond.  Had  I  sat  down  that  night  to  writs 
my  letter,  quite  ignorant  at  the  time  of  the  great 
calamity  which  had  befallen  his  army,  in  all 
probability  I  would  have  stated  that  M'Dowell 
had  received  a  severe  repulse,  and  had  fallen 
back  upon  Centreville ;  that  a  disgraceful  panic 
and  confusion  had  attended  the  retreat  of  a  por 
tion  of  his  army,  but  that  the  appearance  of  the 
reserves  would  probably  prevent  the  enemy  tak 
ing  any  advantage  of  the  disorder ;  and  as  I 
would  have  merely  been  able  to  describe  such  in 
cidents  as  fell  under  my  own  observation,  and 
would  have  left  the  American  journals  to  nar 
rate  the  actual  details,  and  the  dispatches  of  the 
American  Generals  the  strategical  events  of  the 
day,  I  should  have  led  the  world  at  home  to  be 
lieve,  as,  in  fact,  I  believed  myself,  that  M 'Dow- 
ell's  retrograde  movement  would  be  arrested  at 
some  point  between  Centreville  and  Fairfax 
Court-house. 

The  letter  that  I  was  to  write  occupied  my 
mind  whilst  I  was  crossing  the  Long  Bridge,  gaz 
ing  at  the  lights  reflected  in  the  Potomac  from 
the  city.  The  night  had  become  overcast,  and 
heavy  clouds  rising  up  rapidly  obscured  the 
moon,  forming  a  most  phantastic  mass  of  shapes 
in  the  sky. 

At  the  Washington  end  of  the  bridge  I  was 
challenged  again  by  the  men  of  a  whole  regiment, 
who,  with  piled  arms,  were  halted  on  the  chaus- 
see,  smoking,  laughing,  and  singing.  "Stran 
ger,  have  you  been  to  the  fight  ?"  "I  have  been 
only  a  little  beyond  Centreville."  But  that  was 
quite  enough.  Soldiers,  civilians,  and  women, 
who  seemed  to  be  out  unusually  late,  crowded 
round  the  horse,  and  again  I  told  my  stereotyped 
story  of  the  unsuccessful  attempt  to  carry  the 
Confederate  position,  and  the  retreat  to  Centre 
ville  to  await  better  luck  next  time.  The  sol 
diers  alongside  me  cheered,  and  those  next  them 
took  it  up,  till  it  ran  through  the  whole  line,  and 
must  have  awoke  the  night-owls. 

As  I  passed  Willard's  hotel  a  little  further  on, 
a  clock — I  think  the  only  public  clock  which 
strikes  the  hours  in  Washington — tolled  out  the 
hour ;  and  I  supposed,  from  what  the  sentry  told 
me,  though  I  did  not  count  the  strokes,  that  it 
was  eleven  o'clock.  All  the  rooms  in  the  hotel 
were  a  blaze  of  light.  The  pavement  before  the 
door  was  crowded,  and  some  mounted  men  and 
the  clattering  of  sabres  on  the  pavement  led  me 
to  infer  that  the  escort  of  the  wounded  officer 
had  arrived  before  me.  I  passed  on  to  the  lir- 
ery-stables,  where  every  one  was  alive  and  stir 
ring. 


174 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


"I'm  sure," said  the  man,  "  I  thought  I'd  nev 
er  see  you  nor  the  horse  back  again.  The  gig 
and  the  other  gentleman  has  been  back  a  long 
time.  How  did  he  carry  you?" 

"  Oh,  pretty  well ;  what's  his  price  ?" 

"  Well,  now  that  I  look  at  him,  and  to  you,  it 
will  be  100  dollars  less  than  I  said.  I'm  in  good 
heart  to-night." 

"Why  so?  A  number  of  your  horses  and 
carriages  have  not  come  back  yet,  you  tell  me." 

"  Oh,  well,  I'll  get  paid  for  them  some  time  or 
another.  Oh,  such  news  !  such  news!"  said  he, 
rubbing  his  hands.  "Twenty  thousand  of  them 
killed  and  wounded!  May-be  they're  not  hav 
ing  fits  in  the  White  House  to-night!" 

I  walked  to  my  lodgings,  and  just  as  I  turned 
the  key  in  the  door  a  flash  of  light  made  me 
pause  for  a  moment,  in  expectation  of  the  report 
of  a  gun  ;  for  I  could  not  help  thinking  it  quite 
possible  that,  somehow  or  another,  the  Confeder 
ate  cavalry  would  try  to  beat  up  the  lines,  but 
no  sound  followed.  It  must  have  been  light 
ning.  I  walked  up-stairs,  and  saw  a  most  wel 
come  supper  ready  on  the  table — an  enormous 
piece  of  cheese,  a  sausage  of  unknown  compo 
nents,  a  knuckle-bone  of  ham,  and  a  bottle  of  a 
very  light  wine  of  France  ;  but  I  would  not  have 
exchanged  that  repast  and  have  waited  half  an 
hour  for  any  banquet  that  Soyer  or  Careme 
could  have  prepared  at  their  best.  Then,  having 
pulled  off  my  boots,  bathed  my  head,  trimmed 
candles,  and  lighted  a  pipe,  I  sat  down  to  write. 
I  made  some  feeble  sentences,  but  the  pen  went 
flying  about  the  paper  as  if  the  spirits  were  play 
ing  tricks  with  it.  When  I  screwed  up  my  ut 
most  resolution,  the  "y's"  would  still  run  into 
long  streaks,  and  the  letters  combine  most  curi 
ously,  and  my  eyes  closed,  and  my  pen  slipped, 
and'just  as  I  was  aroused  from  a  nap,  and  set 
tled  into  a  stern  determination  to  hold  my  pen 
straight,  I  was  interrupted  by  a  messenger  from 
Lord  Lyons,  to  inquire  whether  I  had  returned, 
and  if  so,  to  ask  me  to  go  up  to  the  Legation, 
and  get  something  to  eat.  I  explained,  with  my 
thanks,  that  I  was  quite  safe,  and  had  eaten  sup 
per,  and  learned  from  the  servant  that  Mr.  Warre 
and  his  companion  had  arrived  about  two  hours 
previously.  I  resumed  my  seat  once  more,  haunt 
ed  by  the  memory  of  the  Boston  mail,  which 
would  be  closed  in  a  few  hours,  and  I  had  much 
to  tell,  although  I  had  not  seen  the  battle.  Again 
and  again  I  woke  up,  but  at  last  the  greatest 
conqueror  but  death  overcame  me,  and,  with  my 
head  on  the  blotted  paper,  I  fell  fast  asleep. 


CHAPTER  LI. 

A  runaway  crowd  at  Washington — The  army  of  the  Poto 
mac  in  retreat — Mail-day — Want  of  order  and  author 
ity — Newspaper  lies — Alarm  at  Washington — Confeder 
ate  prisoners — General  MlClellan — M.  Mercier — Effects 
of  the  defeat  on  Mr.  Reward  and  the  President — MlDow- 
ell — General  Patterson. 

July  22nd. — I  awoke  from  a  deep  sleep  this 
morning,  about  six  o'clock.  The  rain  was  fall 
ing  in  torrents,  and  beat  with  a  dull,  thudding 
sound  on  the  leads  outside  my  window;  but, 
louder  than  all,  came  a  strange  sound,  ns  if  of 
the  tread  of  men,  a  confused  tramp  and  splash 
ing,  and  a  murmuring  of  voices.  I  got  up  and 
ran  to  the  front  room,  the  windows  of  which  look 
ed  on  the  street,  and  there,  to  my  intense  sur 


prise,  I  saw  a  steady  stream  of  men  covered  with 
mud,  soaked  through  with  rain,  who  were  pour 
ing  irregularly,  without  any  semblance  of  order, 
up  Pennsylvania  Avenue  towards  the  Capitol. 
A  dense  stream  of  vapour  rose  from  the  multi 
tude  ;  but  looking  closely  at  the  men,  I  perceived 
they  belonged  to  different  regiments,  New  York 
ers,  Michiganders,  Rhode  Islanders,  Massachu- 
setters,  Minnesotians,  mingled  pellmell  together. 
Many  of  them  were  without  knapsacks,  cross- 
belts,  and  firelocks.  Some  had  neither  great 
coats  nor  shoes,  others  were  covered  with  blank 
ets.  Hastily  putting  on  my  clothes,  I  ran  down 
stairs  and  asked  an  "officer,"  who  was  passing 
by,  a  pale  young  man,  who  looked  exhausted  to 
death,  and  who  had  lost  his  sword,  for  the  empty 
sheath  dangled  at  his  side,  where  the  men  Avere 
coming  from.  "  Where  from  ?  Well,  sir,  I  guess 
we're  all  coming  out  of  Verginny  as  far  as  we 
can,  and  pretty  well  whipped  too."  "What! 
the  whole  army,  sir?"  "That's  more  than  I 
know.  They  may  stay  that  like.  I  know  I'm 
going  home.  I've  had  enough  of  fighting  to  last 
my  lifetime." 

The  news  seemed  incredible.  But  there,  be 
fore  my  eyes,  were  the  jaded,  dispirited,  broken 
remnants  of  regiments  passing  onwards,  where 
and  for  what  I  knew  not,  and  it  was  evident 
enough  that  the  mass  of  the  grand  army  of  the 
Potomac  was  placing  that  river  between  it  and 
the  enemy  as  rapidly  as  possible.  "Is  there  any 
pursuit?"  I  asked  of  several  men.  Some  were 
too  surly  to  reply ;  others  said,  "They're  coming 
as  fast  as  they  can  after  us."  Others,  "I  guess 
they've  stopped  it  now — the  rain  is  too  much  for 
them."  A  few  said  they  did  not  know,  and  look 
ed  as  if  they  did  nor  care.  And  here  came  one 
of  these  small  crises  in  which  a  special  corre 
spondent  would  give  a  good  deal  for  the  least 
portion  of  duality  in  mind  or  body.  A  few  sheets 
of  blotted  paper  and  writing  materials  lying  on 
the  table  beside  the  burnt-out  candles  reminded 
me  that  the  imperious  post-day  was  running  on. 
"  The  mail  for  Europe,  via  Boston,  closes  at  one 
o'clock,  Monday,  July  22nd,"  stuck  up  in  large 
characters,  Avarned  me  I  had  not  a  moment  to 
lose.  I  kneAv  the  eA'ent  Avonld  be  of  the  utmost 
interest  in  England,  and  that  it  Avould  be  import 
ant  to  tell  the  truth  as  fnr  as  I  knew  it,  leaving 
the  American  papers  to  state  their  OAvn  case,  that 
the  public  might  form  their  OAVII  conclusions. 

But  then,  I  felt,  IIOAV  interesting  it  would  be  to 
ride  out  and  Avatch  the  evacuation  of  the  sacred 
soil  of  Virginia,  to  see  Avhat  the  enemy  were  do 
ing,  to  examine  the  situation  of  affairs,  to  hear 
what  the  men  said,  and,  above  all,  find  out  the 
cause  of  this  retreat  and  headlong  confusion,  in 
vestigate  the  extent  of  the  Federal  losses  and  the 
condition  of  the  wounded — in  fact,  to  find  mate 
rials  for  a  dozen  of  letters.  I  would  fain,  too, 
have  seen  General  Scott,  and  heard  his  opinions, 
and  have  visited  the  leading  senators,  to  get  a 
notion  of  the  Avay  in  which  they  looked  on  this 
catastrophe. —  "I  do  perceive  here  a  divided 
duty." — But  the  more  I  reflected  on  the  matter 
the  more  strongly  I  became  convinced  that  it 
Avould  not  be  advisable  to  postpone  the  letter,  and 
that  the  events  of  the  21st  ought  to  have  prece 
dence  of  those  of  the  22nd,  and  so  I  stuck  up  my 
usual  notice  on  the  door  outside  of  "Mr.  Russell 
is  out,"  and  resumed  my  letter. 

Whilst  the  rain  fell,  the  tramp  of  feet  went 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


175 


steadily  on.  As  I  lifted  my  eyes  now  and  then 
from  the  paper,  I  saw  the  beaten,  foot-sore, 
spongy-looking  soldiers,  officers,  and  all  the  de 
bris  of  the  army  filing  through  mud  and  rain,  and 
forming  in  crowds  in  front  of  the  spirit-stores. 
Underneath  my  room  is  the  magazine  of  Jost, 
ncgociant  en  vins,  and  he  drives  a  roaring  trade 
this  morning,  interrupted  occasionally  by  loud 
disputes  as  to  the  score.  When  the  lad  came  in 
with  my  breakfast  he  seemed  a  degree  or  two 
lighter  in  colour  than  usual.  "What's  the  mat 
ter  with  you?"  "I  'spects,  massa,  the  Secesh- 
ers  soon  be  in  here.  I'm  a  free. nigger;  I  must 
go,  sar,  afore  de  come  cotch  me."  It  is  rather 
plsasant  to  be  neutral  under  such  circumstances. 

I  speedily  satisfied  myself  I  could  not  finish 
my  letter  in  time  for  post,  and  I  therefore  sent 
for  my  respectable  Englishman  to  go  direct  to 
Boston  by  the  train  which  leaves  this  at  four 
o'clock  to-morrow  morning,  so  as  to  catch  the 
mail  steamer  on  Wednesday,  and  telegraphed  to 
the  agents  there  to  inform  them  of  my  intention 
of  doing  so.  Visitors  came  knocking  at  the  door, 
and  insisted  on  getting  in — military  friends  who 
wanted  to  give  me  their  versions  of  the  battle — 
the  attaches  of  legations  and  others,  who  desired 
to  hear  the  news  and  have  a  little  gossip ;  but  I 
turned  a  deaf  ear  doorwards,  and  they  went  off 
into  the  outer  rain  again. 

More  draggled,  more  muddy,  and  down-heart 
ed,  and  foot-weary  and  vapid,  the  great  army  of 
the  Potomac  still  straggled  by.  Towards  even 
ing  I  seized  my  hat  and  made  off  to  the  stable 
to  inquire  how  the  poor  horse  was.  There  he 
stood,  neai'ly  as  fresh  as  ever,  a  little  tucked  up 
in  the  ribs,  but  eating  heartily,  and  perfectly 
sound.  A  change  had  come  over  Mr.  Wroe's 
dream  of  horseflesh.  "They'll  be  going  cheap 
now,"  thought  he,  and  so  he  said  aloud,  "If 
you'd  like  to  buy  that  horse,  I'd  let  you  have  him 
a  little  under  what  I  said.  Dear !  dear !  it 
must  a'  been  a  sight  sure-ly  to  see  them  Yankees 
running ;  you  can  scarce  get  through  the  Avenue 
with  them." 

And  what  Mr.  W.  says  is  quite  true.  The  rain 
has  abated  a  little,  and  the  pavements  are  dense 
ly  packed  with  men  in  uniform,  some  with,  oth 
ers  without,  arms,  on  whom  the  shopkeepers  are 
looking  with  evident  alarm.  They  seem  to  be 
in  possession  of  all  the  spirit-houses.  Now  and 
then  shots  are  heard  down  the  street  or  in  the 
distance,  and  cries  and  shouting,  as  if  a  scuffle 
or  a  difficulty  were  occurring.  Willard's  is  turn 
ed  into  a  barrack  for  officers,  and  presents  such 
a  scene  in  the  hall  as  could  only  be  witnessed  in 
a  city  occupied  by  a  demoralised  army.  There 
is  no  provost  guard,  no  patrol,  no  authority  visi 
ble  in  the  streets.  General  Scott  is  quite  over 
whelmed  by  the  affair,  and  is  unable  to  stir. 
General  M;Dowell  has  not  yet  arrived.  The 
Secretary  of  War  knows  not  what  to  do,  Mr.  Lin 
coln  is  equally  helpless,  and  Mr.  Seward,  who  re 
tains  some  calmness,  is,  notwithstanding  his  mili 
tary  rank  and  militia  experience,  without  re 
source  or  expedient.  There  are  a  good  many 
troops  hanging  on  about  the  camps  and  forts  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river,  it  is  said ;  but  they 
are  thoroughly  disorganised,  and  will  run  away 
if  the  enemy  comes  in  sight  without  a  shot,  and 
then  the  capital  must  fall  at  once.  Why  Beau- 
regard  does  not  come  I  know  not,  nor  can  I  well 
guess.  I  have  been  expecting  every  hour  since 


noon  to  hear  his  cannon.  Here  is  a  golden  op 
portunity.  If  the  Confederates  do  not  grasp  that 
which  will  never  come  again  on  such  terms,  it 
stamps  them  with  mediocrity. 

The  morning  papers  are  quite  ignorant  of  the 
defeat,  or  affect  to  be  unaware  of  it,  and  declare 
yesterday's  battle  to  have  been  in  favour  of  the 
Federals  generally,  the  least  arrogant  stating  that 
M'Dowell  will  resume  his  march  from  Centreville 
immediately.  The  evening  papers,  however, 
seem  to  be  more  sensible  of  the  real  nature  of 
the  crisis :  it  is  scarcely  within  the  reach  of  any 
amount  of  impertinence  or  audacious  assertion 
to  deny  what  is  passing  before  their  very  eyes. 
The  grand  army  of  the  Potomac  is  in  the  streets 
of  Washington,  instead  of  being  on  its  way  to 
Richmond.  One  paper  contains  a  statement 
which  would  make  me  uneasy  about  myself  if  I  <-" 
had  any  confidence  in  these  stories,  for  it  is  as 
serted  "that  Mr.  Russell  was  last  seen  in  the 
thick  of  the  fight,  and  has  not  yet  returned. 
Fears  are  entertained  for  his  safety. " 

Towards  dark  the  rain  moderated  and  the 
noise  in  the  streets  waxed  louder ;  all  kinds  of 
rumours  respecting  the  advance  of  the  enemy, 
the  annihilation  of  Federal  regiments,  the  tre 
mendous  losses  on  both  sides,  charges  of  cavalry, 
stormings  of  great  intrenchments  and  stupendous 
masked  batteries,  and  elaborate  reports  of  un 
paralleled  feats  of  personal  valour,  were  circu 
lated  under  the  genial  influence  of  excitement, 
and  by  the  quantities  of  alcohol  necessary  to  keep 
out  the  influence  of  the  external  moisture.  I 
did  not  hear  one  expression  of  confidence,  or  see 
one  cheerful  face  in  all  that  vast  crowd  which 
but  a  few  days  before  constituted  an  army,  and 
was  now  nothing  better  than  a  semi- armed  mob. 
I  could  see  no  cannon  returning,  and  to  my  in 
quiries  after  them,  I  got  generally  the  answer, 
"I  suppose  the  Seceshers  have  got  hold  of  them." 

Whilst  I  was  at  table,  several  gentlemen  who 
have  entree  called  on  me,  who  confirmed  my  im 
pressions  respecting  the  magnitude  of  the  disas 
ter  that  is  so  rapidly  developing  its  proportions. 
They  agree  in  describing  the  army  as  disorgan 
ised.  Washington  is  rendered  almost  untenable, 
in  consequence  of  the  conduct  of  the  army,  which 
was  not  only  to  have  defended  it,  but  to  have 
captured  the  rival  capital.  Some  of  my  visitors 
declared  it  was  dangerous  to  move  abroad  in  the 
streets.  Many  think  the  contest  is  now  over; 
but  the  gentlemen  of  Washington  have  Southern 
sympathies,  and  I,  on  the  contrary,  am  persuaded  •-• 
this  prick  in  the  great  Northern  balloon  will  let 
out  a  quantity  of  poisonous  gas,  and  rouse  the 
people  to  a  sense  of  the  nature  of  the  conflict  on 
which  they  have  entered.  The  inmates  of  the 
White  House  are  in  a  state  of  the  utmost  trepi 
dation,  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  sat  in  the  telegraph 
operator's  room  with  General  Scott  and  Mr.  Sew 
ard,  listening  to  the  dispatches  as  they  arrived 
from  the  scene  of  action,  left  it  in  despair  when 
the  fatal  words  tripped  from  the  needle,  and  the 
defeat  was  clearly  revealed  to  him. 

Having  finally  cleared  my  room  of  visitors  and 
locked  the  door,  I  sat  down  once  more  to  my 
desk,  and  continued  my  narrative.  The  night 
wore  on.  and  the  tumult  still  reigned  in  the  city. 
Once,  indeed,  if  not  twice,  my  attention  was 
aroused  by  sounds  like  distant  cannon  and  out 
bursts  of  musketry,  but  on  reflection  I  was  satis 
fied  the  Confederate  general  would  never  be  rash 


176 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


enough  to  attack  the  place  by  night,  and  that, 
after  all  the  rain  which  had  fallen,  he  in  all  prob 
ability  would  give  horses  and  men  a  day's  rest, 
marching  them  through  the  night,  so  as  to  ap 
pear  before  the  city  in  the  course  of  to-morrow. 
Again  and  again  I  was  interrupted  by  soldiers 
clamouring  for  drink  and  for  money,  attracted 
by  the  light  in  my  windows;  one  or  two  irre 
pressible  and  irresistible  friends  actually  succeed 
ed  in  making  their  way  into  my  room — just  as 
on  the  night  when  I  was  engaged  in  writing  an 
account  of  the  last  attack  on  the  Redan,  my  hut 
was  stormed  by  visitors,  and  much  of  my  letter 
was  penned  under  the  apprehension  of  a  sharp 
pair  of  spurs  fixed  in  the  heels  of  a  jolly  little 
adjutant,  who,  overcome  by  fatigue  and  rum-and- 
water,  fell  asleep  in  my  chair,  with  his  legs  cock 
ed  up  on  my  writing-table ;  but  I  saw  the  last 
of  them  about  midnight,  and  so  continued  writ 
ing  till  the  morning  light  began  to  steal  through 
the  casement.  Then  came  the  trusty  messenger, 
and,  at  3  A.M.,  when  I  had  handed  him  the  par 
cel  and  looked  round  to  see  all  my  things  were 
in  readiness,  lest  a  rapid  toilet  might  be  neces 
sary  in  the  morning,  with  a  sigh  of  relief  I  plunged 
into  bed,  and  slept. 

July  23rd. — The  morning  was  far  advanced 
when  I  awoke,  and  hearing  the  roll  of  waggons 
in  the  street,  I  at  first  imagined  the  Federals  were 
actually  about  to  abandon  Washington  itself; 
but  on  going  to  the  window,  I  perceived  it  arose 
from  an  irregular  train  of  commissariat  carts, 
country  waggons,  ambulances,  and  sutlers'  vans, 
in  the  centre  of  the  street,  the  paths  being  crowd 
ed  as  before  with  soldiers,  or  rather  with  men  in 
uniform,  many  of  whom  seemed  as  if  they  had 
been  rolling  in  the  mud.  Poor  General  Mans 
field  was  running  back  and  forwards  between  his 
quarters  and  the  War  Department,  and  in  the 
afternoon  some  efforts  were  made  to  restore  or 
der,  by  appointing  rendezvous  to  which  the  frag 
ment  of  regiments  should  repair,  and  by  organ 
ising  mounted  patrols  to  clear  the  streets.  In 
the  middle  of  the  day  I  went  out  through  the 
streets,  and  walked  down  to  the  long  bridge  with 
the  intention  of  crossing,  but  it  was  literally  block 
ed  up  from  end  to  end  with  a  mass  of  waggons 
and  ambulances  full  of  wounded  men,  whose  cries 
of  pain  echoed  above  the  shouts  of  the  drivers, 
so  that  I  abandoned  the  attempt  to  get  across, 
which,  indeed,  would  not  have  been  easy  with 
any  comfort,  owing  to  the  depth  of  mud  in  the 
roads.  To-day  the  aspect  of  Washington  is  more 
unseemly  and  disgraceful,  if  that  were  possible, 
than  yesterday  afternoon. 

As  I  returned  towards  my  lodgings  a  scene  of 
greater  disorder  and  violence  than  usual  attract 
ed  my  attention.  A  body  of  Confederate  pris 
oners,  marching  two  and  two,  were  with  diffi 
culty  saved  by  their  guard  from  the  murderous 
assaults  of  a  hooting  rabble,  composed  of  civilians 
and  men  dressed  like  soldiers,  who  hurled  all 
kinds  of  missiles  they  could  lay  their  hands  upon 
over  the  heads  of  the  guard  at  their  victims,  spat 
tering  them  with  mud  and  filthy  language.  It 
was  very  gratifying  to  see  the  way  in  which  the 
dastardly  mob  'dispersed  at  the  appearance  of  a 
squad  of  mounted  men,  who  charged  them  bold 
ly,  and  escorted  the  prisoners  to  General  Mans 
field.  They  consisted  of  a  picket  or  grand  guard, 
which,  unaware  of  the  retreat  of  their  regiment 
from  Fairfax,  marched  into  the  Federal  lines  be 


fore  the  battle.  Their  just  indignation  was  au 
dible  enough.  One  of  them,  afterwards,  told 
General  M'Dowell,  who  hurried  over  as  soon  as 
he  was  made  aware  of  the  disgraceful  outrages 
to  which  they  had  been  exposed,  "  I  would  have 
died  a  hundred  deaths  before  I  fell  into  these 
wretches'  hands,  if  I  had  known  this.  Set  me 
me  free  for  five  minutes,  and  let  any  two,  or  four, 
of  them  insult  me  when  my  hands  are  loose." 

Soon  afterwards  a  report  flew,  about  that  a 
crowd  of  soldiers  were  hanging  a  Secessionist. 
A  senator  rushed  to  General  M'Dowell,  and  told 
him  that  he  had  seen  the  man  swinging  with  his 
own  eyes.  Oft'  went  the  General,  -centre  a  terre, 
and  was  considerably  relieved  by  finding  that 
they  were  hanging  merely  a  dummy  or  effigy  of 
Jeff.  Davis,  not  having  succeeded  in  getting  at 
the  original  yesterday. 

Poor  M'Dowell  has  been  swiftly  punished  for 
his  defeat,  or  rather  for  the  unhappy  termination 
to  his  advance.  As  soon  as  the  disaster  was  as 
certained  beyond  doubt,  the  President  telegraphed 
to  General  M  'Clellan  to  come  and  take  command 
of  his  army.  It  is  a  commentary  full  of  instruc 
tion  on  the  military  system  of  the  Americans, 
that  they  have  not  a  soldier  who  has  ever  handled 
a  brigade  in  the  field  fit  for  service  in  the  North. 

The  new  commander-in-chief  is  a  brevet-major 
who  has  been  in  civil  employ  on  a  railway  for 
several  years.  He  went  once,  with  two  other 
West  Point  officers,  commissioned  by  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War,  to  examine 
and  report  on  the  operations  in  the  Crimea,  who 
were  judiciously  despatched  when  the  war  was 
over,  and  I  used  to  see  him  and  his  companions 
poking  about  the  ruins  of  the  deserted  trenches 
and  batteries,  mounted  on  horses  furnished  by 
the  courtesy  of  British  officers,  just  as  they  lived 
in  English  quarters,  when  they  were  snubbed 
and  refused  an  audience  by  the  Duke  of  Mal- 
akhoff  in  the  French  camp.  Major  M.'Clellan 
forgot  the  affront,  did  not  even  mention  it,  and 
showed  his  Christian  spirit  by  praising  the  allies, 
and  damning  John  Bull  with  very  faint  applause, 
seasoned  with  lofty  censure.  He  was  very  young, 
however,  at  the  time,  and  is  so  well  spoken  of 
that  his  appointment  will  be  popular ;  but  all 
that  he  has  done  to  gain  such  reputation,  and  to 
earn  the  confidence  of  the  government,  is  to  have 
had  some  skirmishes  with  bands  of  Confederates 
in  Western  Virginia,  in  which  the  leader,  Gar- 
nett,  was  killed,  his  "forces"  routed,  and  finally, 
to  the  number  of  a  thousand,  obliged  to  surren 
der  as  prisoners  of  war.  That  success,  however, 
at  such  a  time,  is  quite  enough  to  elevate  any 
man  to  the  highest  command.  M 'Clellan  is 
about  thirty-six  years  of  age,  was  educated  at 
West  Point,  where  he  was  junior  to  M'Dowell, 
and  a  class-fellow  of  Beauregard. 

I  dined  with  M.  Mercier,  the  French  minister, 
who  has  a  prettily  situated  house  on  the  heights 
of  Georgetown,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
city.  Lord  Lyons,  Mr.  Monson,  his  private  sec 
retary,  M.  Bafoche,  son  of  the  French  minister, 
who  has  been  exploiting  the  Southern  states, 
were  the  only  additions  to  the  family  circle. 
The  minister  is  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  of 
more  than  moderate  ability,  with  a  rapid  man 
ner  and  quickness  of  apprehension.  Ever  since 
I  first  met  M.  Morcier  he  has  expressed  his  con 
viction  that  the  North  never  can  succeed  in  con 
quering  the  South,  or  even  restoring  the  Union, 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


177 


and  that  an  attempt  to  do  either  by  armed  force  any  one  read  the  New  York  journals  for  the  last 

must  end  in  disaster.     He  is  the  more  confirmed  week,  if  he  wishes  to  frame  an  indictment  against 

in  his  opinions  by  the  result  of  Sunday's  battle,  such  journalism  as  the  people  delight  to  honour 

but  the  inactivity  of  the  Confederates  gives  rise  in  America. 

to  the  belief  that  they  suffered  seriously  in  the  July  2±th. — I  rode  out  before  breakfast  in  corn- 
affair.  M.  Baroche  has  arrived  at  the  convic-  pany  with  Mr.  Monson  across  the  Long  Bridge 
tion,  without  reference  to  the  fate  of  the  Federals  over  to  Arlington  House.  General  M'Dowell 
in  their  march  to  Richmond,  that  the  Union  is  was  seated  at  a  table  under  a  tree  in  front  of  his 
utterly  gone — as  dead  as  the  Achaian  league.  tent,  and  got  out  his  plans  and  maps  to  explain 

Whilst  Madame  Mercier  and  her  friends  are  the  scheme  of  battle. 

conversing  on  much  more  agreeable  subjects,  Cast  down  from  his  high  estate,  placed  as  a 
the  men  hold  a  tobacco  council  under  the  shade  subordinate  to  his  junior,  covered  with  obloquy 
of  the  magnificent  trees,  and  France,  Russia,  and  and  abuse,  the  American  General  displayed  a 
minor  powers  talk  politics,  Lord  Lyons  alone  not  calm  self-possession  and  perfect  amiability  which 
joining  in  the  nicotian  controversy.  Beneath  us  could  only  proceed  from  a  philosophic  tempera- 
flowed  the  Potomac,  and  on  the  wooded  heights  ment  and  a  consciousness  that  he  would  outlive 
at  the  other  side,  the  Federal  flag  rose  over  Fort  the  calumnies  of  his  countrymen.  He  accused 
Corcoran  and  Arlington  House,  from  which  the  nobody ;  but  it  was  not  difficult  to  perceive  he 
grand  army  had  set  forth  a  few  days  ago  to  crush  had  been  sacrificed  to  the  vanity,  self-seeking, 
rebellion  and  destroy  its  chiefs.  There,  sad,  and  disobedience  of  some  of  his  officers,  and  to 
anxious,  and  despairing,  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  radical  vices  in  the  composition  of  his  army. 
Seward  were  at  that  very  moment  passing  through  When  M'Dowell  found  he  could  not  turn  the 
the  wreck  of  the  army,  which,  silent  as  ruin  it-  enemy's  right  as  he  intended,  because  the  coun- 
self,  took  no  notice  of  their  presence.  try  by  the  Occoquan  was  unfit  for  the  movements 

It  had  been  rumoured  that  the  Confederates  of  artillery,  or  even  infantry,  he  reconnoitred  the 

were  advancing,  and  the  President  and  the  For-  ground  towards  their  left,  and  formed  the  project 

eign  Minister  set  out  in  a  carriage  to  see  with  of  turning  it  by  a  movement  which  would  bring 

their  own  eyes  the  state  of  the  troops.     What  the  weight  of  his  columns  on  their  extreme  left, 

they  beheld  filled  them  with  despair.     The  pla-  and  at  the  same  time  overlap  it,  whilst  a  strong 

teau  was  covered  with  the  men  of  different  regi-  demonstration  was  made  on  the  ford  at  Bull's 

ments,  driven  by  the  patrols  out  of  the  city,  or  Run,  where  General  Tyler  brought  on  the  serious 

arrested  in  their  flight  at  the  bridges.     In  Fort  skirmish  of  the  18th.     In  order  to  carry  out  this 

Corcoran  the  men  were  in  utter  disorder,  threat-  plan,  he  had  to  debouch  his  columns  from  a  nar- 

ening  to  murder  the  officer  of  regulars  who  was  row  point  at  Centreville,  and  march  them  round 

essaying  to  get  them  into  some  state  of  efficiency  by  various  roads  to  points  on  the  upper  part  of 

to  meet  the  advancing  enemy.     He  had  menaced  the  Run,  where  it  was  ford  able  in  all  directions, 

one  of  the  officers  of  the  69th  with  death  for  flat  intending  to  turn  the  enemy's  batteries  on  the 

disobedience  to  orders  ;  the  men  had  taken  the  lower  roads  and  bridges.     But  although  he  start- 

part  of  their  captain ;   and  the  President  drove  ed  them  at  an  early  hour,  the  troops  moved  so 

into  the  work  just  in  time  to  witness  the  con-  slowly  the  Confederates  became  aware  of  their 

fusion.     The  soldiers  with  loud  cries  demanded  design,  and  were  enabled  to  concentrate  consid- 

that  the  officer  should  be  punished,  and  the  Pres-  erable  masses  of  troops  on  their  left, 

ident  asked  him  why  he  had  used  such  violent  The  Federals  were  not  only  slow,  but  disor- 

language  towards  his  subordinate.      "I  told  him,  derly.     The  regiments  in  advance  stopped  at 

Mr.  President,  that  if  he  refused  to  obey  my  orders  streams  to  drink  and  fill  their  canteens,  delaying 

I  would  shoot  him  on  the  spot ;  and  I  here  repeat  the  regiments  in  the  rear.     They  wasted  their 

it,  sir,  that  if  I  remain  in  command  here,  and  he  provisions,  so  that  many  of  them  were  without 

or  any  other  man  refuses  to  obey  my  orders,  I'll  food  at  noon,  when  they  were  exhausted  by  the 

shoot  him  on  the  spot."  heat  of  the  sun  and  by  the  stifling  vapours  of 

The  firmness  of  Sherman's  language  and  do-  their  own  dense  columns.     When  they  at  last 

meanour  in  presence  of  the  chief  of  the  State  came  into  action,  some  divisions  were  not  in  their 

overawed  the  mutineers,  and  they  proceeded  to  places,  so  that  the  line  of  battle  was  broken;  and 

put  the  work  in  some  kind  of  order  to  resist  the  those  which  were  in  their  proper  position  were 


enemy. 

Mr.  Seward  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  scene, 
and  retired  with  the  President  to  consult  as  to 


exposed,  without  support,  to  the  enemy's  fire. 
A  delusion  of  masked  batteries  pressed  on  their 
brain.  To  this  was  soon  added  a  hallucination 


the  best  course  to  pursue,  in  some  dejection,  but  about  cavalry,  which  might  have  been  cured  had 

they  were  rather  comforted  by  the  telegrams  the  Federals  possessed  a  few  steady  squadrons  to 

from  all  parts  of  the  North,  which  proved  that,  manoeuvre  on  their  flanks  and  in  the  intervals 

though  disappointed  and  surprised,  the  people  of  their  line.     Nevertheless,  they  advanced  and 

were  not  disheartened  or  ready  to  relinquish  the  encountered  the  enemy's  fire  wfth  some  spirit ; 

contest.  but  the  Confederates  were  enabled  to  move  up 

The  accounts  of  the  battle  in  the  principal  fresh  battalions,  and  to  a  certain  extent  to  es- 

journals  are  curiously  inaccurate  and  absurd,  tablish  an  equality  between  the  numbers  of  their 

The  writers  have  now  recovered  themselves.     At  own  troops  and  the  assailants,  whilst  they  had 

first  they  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  facts  and  to  the  advantages  of  better  cover  and  ground.     An 

the  accounts  of  their  correspondents.     They  ad-  apparition  of  a  disorderly  crowd  of  horsemen  in 

mitted  the  repulse,  the  losses,  the  disastrous  re-  front  of  the  much-boasting  Fire  Zouaves  of  New 

treat,  the  loss  of  guns,  in  strange  contrast  to  their^  York  threw  them  into  confusion  and  flight,  and 

prophecies  and  wondrous  hyperboles  about  the  a  battery  which  they  ought  to  have  protected 

hyperbolic  grand  army.     Now  they  set  them-  was  taken.     Another  battery  was  captured  by 

selves  to  stem  the  current  they  have  made.     Let  the  mistake  of  an  officer,  who  allowed  a  Confed- 
M 


178 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


erate  regiment  to  approach  the  guns,  thinking 
they  were  Federal  troops,  till  their  first  volley 
destroyed  hotli  horses  and  gunners.  At  the  criti 
cal  moment,  General  Johnston,  who  had  escaped 
from  the  feeble  observation  and  untenacious  grip 
of  General  Patterson  and  his  time-expired  volun 
teers,  and  had  been  hurrying  down  his  troops 
from  Winchester  by  train,  threw  his  fresh  bat 
talions  on  the  flank  and  rear  of  the  Federal 
right.  When  the  General  ordered  a  retreat, 
rendered  necessary  by  the  failure  of  the  attack 
— disorder  spread,  which  increased — the  retreat 
became  a  flight,  which  degenerated — if  a'  flight 
can  degenerate — into  a  panic,  the  moment  the 
Confederates  pressed  them  with  a  few  cavalry 
and  horse  artillery.  The  efforts  of  the  Generals 
to  restore  order  and  confidence  were  futile.  For 
tunately  a  weak  reserve  was  posted  at  Centre- 
ville,  and  these  were  formed  in  line  on  the  slope 
of  the  hill,  whilst  M'Dowell  and  his  officers  ex 
erted  themselves  with  indifferent  success  to  ar 
rest  the  mass  of  the  army,  and  make  them  draw 
up  behind  the  reserve,  telling  the  men  a  bold 
front  was  their  sole  chance  of  safety.  At  mid 
night  it  became  evident  the  morale  of  the  army 
was  destroyed,  and  nothing  was  left  but  a  speedy 
retrograde  movement,  with  the  few  regiments 
and  guns  which  were  in  a  condition  approach 
ing  to  efficiency,  upon  the  defensive  works  of 
Washington. 

Notwithstanding  the  reverse  of  fortune,  M'Dow- 
ell  did  not  appear  willing  to  admit  his  estimate 
of  the  Southern  troops  was  erroneous,  or  to  say, 
"Change  armies,  and  I'll  fight  the  battle  over 
again."  He  still  held  Mississippians,  Alabami- 
ans,  Louisianians,  very  cheap,  and  did  not  see, 
or  would  not  confess,  the  full  extent  of  the  cal 
umny  which  had  fallen  so  heavily  on  him  per 
sonally.  The  fact  of  the  evening's  inactivity 
was  conclusive  in  his  mind  that  they  had  a  dear 
ly-bought  success,  and  he  looked  forward,  though 
in  a  subordinate  capacity,  to  a  speedy  and  glori 
ous  revenge. 

July  2i>tk. — The  unfortunate  General  Patter 
son,  who  could  not  keep  Johnston  from  getting 
away  from  Winchester,  is  to  be  dismissed  the 
service — honourably,  of  course — that  is,  he  is  to 
be  punished  because  his  men  would  insist  on  go 
ing  home  in  face  of  the  enemy,  as  soon  as  their 
three  months  were  up,  and  that  time  happened 
to  arrive  just  as  it  would  be  desirable  to  operate 
against  the  Confederates.  The  latter  have  lost 
their  chance.  The  Senate,  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  the  Cabinet,  the  President,  are  all 
at  their  ease  once  more,  and  feel  secure  in  Wash 
ington.  Up  to  this  moment  the  Confederates 
could  have  taken  it  with  very  little  trouble. 
Maryland  could  have  been  roused  to  arms,  and 
Baltimore  would  have  declared  for  them.  The 
triumph  of  the  non-aggressionists,  at  the  head 
of  which  is  Mr.  Davis,  in  resisting  the  demands 
of  the  party  which  urges  an  actual  invasion  of 
the  North  as  the  best  way  of  obtaining  peace, 
may  prove  to  be  very  disastrous.  Final  material 
results  must  have  justified  the  occupation  of 
Washington. 

I  dined  at  the  Legation,  where  were  Mr.  Sum- 
ner  and  some  English  visitors  desirous  of  going 
South.  Lord  Lyons  gives  no  encouragement  to 
these  adventurous  persons. 

July  2tith. — Whether  it  is  from  curiosity  to 
hear  what  I  have  to  say  or  not,  the  number  of 


my  visitors  is  augmenting.  Among  them  was  a 
man  in  soldier's  uniform,  who  sauntered  into  my 
room  to  borrow  "five  or  ten  dollars,"  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  a  waiter  at  the  Clarendon 
Hotel  when  I  was  stopping  there,  and  wanted 
to  go  North,  as  his  time  was  up.  His  anecdotes 
were  stupendous.  General  Meigs  and  Captain 
Macomb,  of  the  United  States  Engineers,  paid 
me  a  visit,  and  talked  of  the  disaster  very  sensi 
bly.  The  former  is  an  able  officer,  and  an  ac 
complished  man ;  the  latter,  son,  I  believe,  of  the 
American  general  of  that  name,  distinguished  in 
the  war  with  Great  Britain.  I  had  a  long  con 
versation  with  General  M  'Dowell,  who  bears  his 
supercession  with  admirable  fortitude,  and  com 
plains  of  nothing  except  the  failure  of  his  offi 
cers  to  obey  orders,  and  the_hard_^Lte_ ...wjucli 
condemned. him  to  lead  an  army  of  volmi!c«-r> — 
Captain  Wright,  aide  de  camp  to  General  Scott, 
Lieutenant  Wise,  of  the  Navy,  and  many  others. 
The  communications  received  from  the  North 
ern  States  have  restored  the  spirits  of  all  Union 
men,  and  not  a  few  declare  they  are  glad  of  the 
reverse,  as  the  North  will  now  be  obliged  to  put 
forth  all  its  strength. 


CHAPTER  LIT. 

Attack  of  Illness— General  M'Clellan— Reception  at  the 
White  House— Drunkenness  among  the  Volunteers-r 
Visit  from  Mr.  Olmsted — Georgetown — Intense  Heat— 
M^Clellan  and  the  Newspapers — Reception  at  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's — Alexandria — A  Storm — Sudden  Death  of  an  En 
glish  Officer— The  Maryland  Club— A  Prayer  and  Fast 
Day— Financial  Difficulties. 

July  27th. — So  ill  to-day  from  heat,  bad  smells 
in  the  house,  and  fatigue,  that  I  sent  for  Dr. 
Miller,  a  great,  fine  Virginian  practitioner,  who 
ordered  me  powders  to  be  taken  in  ' '  mint  juleps." 
Now  mint  juleps  are  made  of  whisky,  sugar,  ice, 
very  little  water,  and  sprigs  of  fresh  mint,  to  be 
sucked  up  after  the  manner  of  sherry  cobblers, 
Uf  so  it  be  pleased,  with  a  straw. 

"A  powder  every  two  hours,  with  a  mint  julep. 
Why,  that's  six  a  day,  Doctor.  Won't  that  be 
— eh? — won't  that  be  rather  intoxicating?" 

"Well,  sir,  that  depends  on  the  constitution. 
You'll  find  they  will  do  you  no  harm,  even  if  the 
worst  takes  place." 

Day  after  day,  till  the  month  was  over  and 
August  had  come,  I  passed  in  a  state  of  powder 
and  julep,  which  the  Virginian  doctor  declared 
saved  my  life.  The  first  time  I  stirred  out  the 
change  which  had  taken  place  in  the  streets  was 
at  once  apparent:  no  drunken  rabblcment  of 
armed  men,  no  begging  soldiers ;  instead  of 
these  were  patrols  in  the  streets,  guards  at  the 
corners,  and  a  rigid  system  of  passes.  The 
North  begin  to  perceive  their  magnificent  armies 
are  mythical,  but  knowing  they  have  the  ele 
ments  of  making  one,  they  are  setting  about  the 
manufacture.  Numbers  of  tapsters  and  serving- 
men,  and  canaille  from  the  cities,  who  now  dis 
grace  swords  and  shoulder-straps,  are  to  be  dis 
missed.  Round  the  corner,  with  a  kind  of  staff 
at  his  heels  and  an  escort,  comes  Major  General 
George  B.  M'Clellan,  the  young  Napoleon  (of 
Western  Virginia),  the  conqueror  of  Garnett,  the 
Captor  of  Peagrim,  the  commander-in-chief,  un 
der  the  President,  of  the  army  of  the  United 
States.  He  is  a  very  squarely-built,  thick-throat 
ed,  broad-chested  man,  under  the  middle  height, 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


179 


with  slightly-bowed  legs,  a  tendency  to  embon 
point.  His  head,  covered  with  a  closely-cut 
crop  of  dark  auburn  hair,  is  well  set  on  his  shoul 
ders.  His  features  are  regular  and  prepossessing 
— the  brow  small,  contracted,  and  furrowed  ;  the 
eyes  deep  and  anxious-looking.  A  short,  thick, 
reddish  moustache  conceals  his  mouth ;  the  rest 
of  his  face  is  clean  shaven.  He  has  made  his 
father-in-law,  Major  Marcy,  chief  of  his  staff,  and 
is  a  good  deal  influenced  by  his  opinions,  which 
are  entitled  to  some  weight,  as  Major  Marcy  is 
a  soldier,  and  has  seen  frontier  wars,  and  is  a 
great  traveller.  The  task  of  licking  this  army 
into  shape  is  of  Herculean  magnitude.  Every 
one,  however,  is  willing  to  do  as  he  bids :  the 
President  confides  in  him,  and  "Georges"  him  ; 
the  press  fawn  upon  him,  the  people  trust  him ; 
he  is  "the  little  corporal"  of  unfought  fields — 
omnis  ignotus  pro  mirifico,  here.  He  looks  like 
a  stout  little  captain  of  dragoons,  but  for  his 
American  seat  and  saddle.  The  latter  is  adapt 
ed  to  a  man  who  cannot  ride :  if  a  squadron  so 
mounted  were  to  attempt  a  fence  or  ditch,  half 
of  them  would  be  ruptured  or  spilled.  The  seat 
is  a  marvel  to  any  European.  But  M'Clellan 
is  nevertheless  "the  man  on  horseback"  just 
now,  and  the  Americans  must  ride  in  his  saddle, 
or  in  anything  he  likes. 

In  the  evening  of  my  first  day's  release  from 
juleps  the  President  held  a  reception  or  levee, 
and  I  went  to  the  White  House  about  nine 
o'clock,  when  the  rooms  were  at  their  fullest. 
The  company  were  arriving  on  foot,  or  crammed 
in  hackney  coaches,  and  did  not  affect  any  neat 
ness  of  attire  or  evening  dress.  The  doors  were 
open  :  any  one  could  walk  in  who  chose.  Pri 
vate  soldiers,  in  hodden  grey  and  hob-nailed 
shoes,  stood  timorously  chewing  on  the  thresh 
old  of  the  state  apartments,  alarmed  at  the  lights 
and  gilding,  or,  haply,  by  the  marabout  feathers 
and  finery  of  a  few  ladies  who  were  in  ball  cos 
tume,  till,  assured  by  fellow-citizens  there  was 
nothing  to  fear,  they  plunged  into  the  dreadful 
revelry.  Faces  familiar  to  me  in  the  magazines 
of  the  town  were  visible  in  the  crowd  which 
filled  the  reception-rooms  and  the  ball-room,  in 
a  small  room  off  which  a  military  band  was  sta 
tioned. 

The  President,  in  a  suit  of  black,  stood  near 
the  door  of  one  of  the  rooms  near  the  hall,  and 
shook  hands  with  every  one  of  the  crowd,  who 
was  then  "  passed"  on  by  his  secretary,  if  the 
President  didn't  wish  to  speak  to  him.  Mr. 
Lincoln  has  recovered  his  spirits,  and  seemed  in 
good  humour.  Mrs.  Lincoln,  who  did  the  hon 
ours  in  another  room,  surrounded  by  a  few  la 
dies,  did  not  appear  to  be  quite  so  contented. 
All  the  ministers  are  present  except  Mr.  Seward, 
who  has  gone  to  his  own  state  to  ascertain  the 
frame  of  mind  of  the  people,  and  to  judge  for 
himself  of  the  sentiments  they  entertain  respect 
ing  the  war.  After  walking  up  and  down  the 
hot  and  crowded  rooms  for  an  hour,  and  seeing 
and  speaking  to  all  the  celebrities,  I  withdrew. 
Colonel  Richardson,  in  his  official  report,  states 
Colonel  Miles  lost  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  by  be 
ing  drunk  and  disorderly  at  a  critical  moment. 
Colonel  Miles,  who  commanded  a  division  of 
three  brigades,  writes  to  say  he  was  not  in  any 
such  state,  and  has  demanded  a  court  of  inquiry. 
In  a  Philadelphia  paper  it  is  stated  M'Dowell 
was  helplessly  drunk  during  the  action,  and  sat 


up  all  the  night  before  drinking,  smoking,  and 
playing  cards.  M'Dowell  never  drinks,  and 
never  has  drunk,  wine,  spirits,  malt,  tea,  or  cof 
fee,  or  smoked  or  used  tobacco  in  any  form,  nor 
does  he  play  cards ;  and  that  remark  does  not 
apply  to  many  other  Federal  officers. 

Drunkenness  is  only  too  common  among  the 
American  volunteers,  and  General  Butler  has 
put  it  officially  in  orders,  that  "  the  use  of  intox 
icating  liquors  prevails  to  an  alarming  extent 
among  the  officers  of  his  command,"  and  has  or 
dered  the  seizure  of  their  grog,  which  will  only  be 
allowed  on  medical  certificate.  He  announces, 
too,  that  he  will  not  use  wine  or  spirits,  or  give 
any  to  his  friends,  or  allow  any  in  his  own  quar 
ters  in  future — a  quaint,  vigorous  creature,  this 
Massachusetts  lawyer. 

The  outcry  against  Patterson  has  not  yet  sub 
sided,  though  he  states  that,  out  of  twenty-three 
regiments  composing  his  force,  nineteen  refused 
to  stay  an.  hour  over  their  time,  which  would 
have  been  up  in  a  week,  so  that  he  would  have 
been  left  in  an  enemy's  country  with  four  regi 
ments.  He  wisely  led  his  patriot  band  back,  and 
let  them  disband  themselves  in  their  own  bor 
ders.  Verily,  these  are  not  the  men  to  conquer 
the  South. 

Fresh  volunteers  are  pouring  in  by  tens  of 
thousands  to  take  their  places  from  all  parts  of 
the  Union,  and  in  three  days  after  the  battle, 
80, 000  men  were  accepted.  Strange  people ! 
The  regiments  which  have  returned  to  New  York 
after  disgraceful  conduct  at  Bull  Run,  with  the 
stigmata  of  cowardice  impressed  by  their  com 
manding  officers  on  the  colours  and  souls  of  their 
cofps,  are  actually  welcomed  with  the  utmost 
enthusiasm,  and  receive  popular  ovations !  It 
becomes  obvious  every  day  that  M'Clellan  does 
not  intend  to  advance  till  he  has  got  some  sem 
blance  of  an  army :  that  will  be  a  long  time  to 
come ;  but  he  can  get  a  good  deal  of  fighting 
out  of  them  in  a  few  months.  Meantime  the 
whole  of  the  Northern  states  are  waiting  anx 
iously  for  the  advance  which  is  to  take  place  at 
once,  according  to  promises  from  New  York.  As 
Washington  is  the  principal  scene  of  interest, 
the  South  being  tabooed  to  me,  I  have  resolved 
to  stay  here  till  the  army  is  fit  to  move,  making 
little  excursions  to  points  of  interest.  The  de 
tails  in  my  diary  are  not  very  interesting,  and  I 
shall  make  but  brief  extracts. 

August  2nd. — Mr.  Olmsted  visited  me  in  com 
pany  with  a  young  gentleman  named  Ritchie, 
son-in-law  of  James  Wadsworth,  who  has  been 
serving  as  honorary  aide-de-camp  on  M'Dowell 's 
staff,  but  is  now  called  to  higher  functions.  They 
dined  at  my  lodgings,  and  we  talked  over  Bull 
Run  again.  Mr.  Ritchie  did  not  leave  Centre- 
ville  till  late  in  the  evening,  and  slept  at  Fairfax 
Court-house,  where  he  remained  till  8.30  A.M. 
on  the  morning  of  July  22nd,  Wadsworth  not 
stirring  for  two  hours  later.  He  said  the  panic 
was  "horrible,  disgusting,  sickening,"  and  spoke 
in  the  harshest  terms  of  the  officers,  to  whom  he 
applied  a  variety  of  epithets.  Prince  Napoleon 
has  arrived. 

August  3rd. — M'Clellan  orders  regular  parades 
and  drills  in  every  regiment,  and  insists  on  all 
orders  being  given  by  bugle  note.  I  had  a  long 
ride  through  the  camps,  and  saw  some  improve 
ment  in  the  look  of  the  men.  Coming  home  by 
Georgetown,  met  the  Prince  driving  with  M. 


180 


MY  DIAKY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Mercier,  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  President.  I  am 
sure  that  the  politicians  are  not  quite  well  pleased 
with  this  arrival,  because  they  do  not  understand 
it,  and  cannot  imagine  a  man  would  come  so  far 
without  a  purpose.  The  drunken  soldiers  now 
resort  to  quiet  lanes  and  courts  in  the  suburbs. 
Georgetown  was  full  of  them.  It  is  a  much 
more  respectable  and  old-world  looking  place 
:  than  its  vulgar,  empty,  overgrown,  mushroom 
neighbour,  Washington.  An  officer  who  had 
fallen  in  his  men  to  go  on  duty  was  walking 
down  the  line  this  evening,  when  his  eye  rested 
on  the  neck  of  a  bottle  sticking  out  of  a  man's 
coat.  "Thunder,"  quoth  he,  "James,  what  have 
you  got  there?"  "Well. I  guess,  captain,  it's  a 
drop  of  real  good  Bourbon."  "Then  let  us  have 
a  drink,"  said  the  captain;  and  thereupon  pro 
ceeded  to  take  a  long  pull  and  a  strong  pull,  till 
the  man  cried  out,  "That  is  not  fair,  Captain. 
You  won't  leave  me  a  drop" — a  remonstrance 
which  had  a  proper  effect,  and  the  captain 
marched  down  his  company  to  the  bridge. 

It  was  extremely  hot  when  I  returned,  late  in 
the-  evening.  I  asked  the  boy  for  a  glass  of  iced 
water.  "  Dere  is  no  ice,  massa,"  he  said.  "  No 
ice?  What's  the  reaso'n  of  that?"  "De  Se- 
ceshers,  massa,  block  up  de  river,  and  touch  off 
^deir  guns  at  de  ice-boats."  The  Confederates 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Potomac  have  now  es 
tablished  a  close  blockade  of  the  river.  Lieu 
tenant  Wise,  of  the  Navy  Department,  admitted 
the  fact,  but  said  that  the  United  States  gunboats 
would  soon  sweep  the  rebels  from  the  shore. 

August  ±th. — I  had  no  idea  that  the  sun  could 
be  powerful  in  Washington ;  even  in  India  the 
heat  is  not  much  more  oppressive  than  it  was 
here  to-day.  There  is  this  extenuating  circum 
stance,  however,  that  after  some  hours  of  such 
very  high  temperature,  thunder-storms  and  tor 
nadoes  cool  the  air.  I  received  a  message  from 
General  M'Clellan  that  he  was  about  to  ride 
along  the  lines  of  the  army  across  the  river,  and 
would  be  happy  if  I  accompanied  him;  but  as 
I  had  many  letters  to  write  for  the  next  mail,  I 
was  unwillingly  obliged  to  abandon  the  chance 
of  seeing  the  army  under  such  favourable  cir 
cumstances.  There  are  daily  arrivals  at  Wash 
ington  of  military  adventurers  from  all  parts  of 
the  world,  some  of  them  with  many  extraordi 
nary  certificates  and  qualifications ;  but,  as  Mr. 
Seward  says,  "  It  is  best  to  detain  them  with  the 
hope  of  employment  on  the  Northern  side,  lest 
some  really  good  man  should  get  among  the 
rebels."  Garibaldians,  Hungarians,  Poles,  offi 
cers  of  Turkish  and  other  contingents,  the  ex 
ecutory  devises  and  remainders  of  European 
revolutions  and  wars,  surround  the  State  depart 
ment,  and  infest  unsuspecting  politicians  with 
illegible  testimonials  in  unknown  tongues. 

August  5th. — The  roads  from  the  station  are 
crowded  with  troops,  coming  from  the  North  as 
fast  as  the  railway  can  carry  them.  It  is  evi 
dent,  as  the  war  fever  spreads,  that  such  politi 
cians  as  Mr.  Crittenden,  who  resist  the  extreme 
violence  of  the  Republican  party,  will  be  stricken 
down.  The  Confiscation  Bill,  for  the  emanci 
pation  of  slaves  and  the  absorption  of  property 
belonging  to  rebels,  has,  indeed,  been  boldly  re 
sisted  in  the  House  of  Representatives;  but  it 
passed  with  some  trifling  amendments.  The 
journals  are  still  busy  with  the  affair  of  Bull 
Run,  and  each  seems  anxious  to  eclipse  the  oth 


er  in  the  absurdity  of  its  statements.  A  Phila 
delphia  journal,  for  instance,  states  to-day  that 
the  real  cause  of  the  disaster  was  not  a  desire  to 
retreat,  but  a  mania  to  advance.  In  its  own 
words,  "the  only  drawback  was  the  impetuous 
feeling  to  go  ahead  and  fight."  Because  one 
officer  is  accused  of  drunkenness,  a  great  move 
ment  is  on  foot  to  prevent  the  army  getting  any 
drink  at  all. 

General  M'Clellan  invited  the  newspaper  cor 
respondents  in  Washington  to  meet  him  to-day, 
and  with  their  assent  drew  up  a  treaty  of  peace 
and  amity,  which  is  a  curiosity  in  its  way.  In 
the  first  place,  the  editors  are  to  abstain  from 
printing  anything  which  can  give  aid  or  comfort 
to  the  enemy,  and  their  correspondents  are  to 
observe  equal  caution  ;  in  return  for  which  com 
plaisance,  Government  is  to  be  asked  to  give  the 
press  opportunities  for  obtaining  and  transmit 
ting  intelligence  suitable  for  publication,  partic 
ularly  touching  engagements  with  the  enemy. 
The  Confederate  privateer  Sumter  has  forced 
the  blockade  at  New  Orleans,  and  has  already 
been  heard  of  destroying  a  number  of  Union 
vessels. 

August  6th. — Prince  Napoleon,  anxious  to  visit 
the  battle-field  at  Bull  Run,  has,  to  Mr.  Seward's 
discomfiture,  applied  for  passes,  and  arrange 
ments  are  being  made  to  escort  him  as  far  as  the 
Confederate  lines.  This  is  a  recognition  of  the 
Confederates,  as  a  belligerent  power,  which  is  by 
no  means  agreeable  to  the  authorities.  I  drove 
down  to  the  Senate,  where  the  proceedings  were 
very  uninteresting,  although  Congress  was  on 
the  eve  of  adjournment,  and  returning,  visited 
Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Bates,  Mr.  Cameron,  Mr.  Blair, 
and  left  cards  for  Mr.  Breckinridge.  The  old 
woman  who  opened  the  door  at  the  house  where 
the  latter  lodged  said,  "Massa  Breckinridge 
pack  up  all  his  boxes  ;  I  s'pose  he  not  cum  back 
here  again." 

August  7th . — In  the  evening  I  went  to  Mr.  Sew 
ard's,  who  gave  a  reception  in  honour  of  Prince 
Napoleon.  The  Minister's  rooms  were  crowded 
and  intensely  hot.  Lord  Lyons  and  most  of  the 
diplomatic  circle  were  present.  The  Prince 
wore  his  Order  of  the  Bath,  and  bore  the  on 
slaughts  of  politicians,  male  and  female,  with 
much  good  humour.  The  contrast  between  the 
uniforms  of  the  officers  of  the  United  States 
army  and  navy  and  those  of  the  French  in  the 
Prince's  suit  by  no  means  redounded  to  the 
credit  of  the  military  tailoring  of  the  Americans. 
The  Prince,  to  whom  I  was  presented  by  Mr. 
Seward,  asked  me  particularly  about  the  roads 
from  Alexandria  to  Fairfax  Court-house,  and 
from  there  to  Centreville  and  Manassas.  I  told 
him  I  had  not  got  quite  so  far  as  the  latter  place, 
at  which  he  laughed.  He  inquired  with  much 
interest  about  General  Beauregard,  whether  he 
spoke  good  French,  if  he  seemed  a  man  of  ca 
pacity,  or  was  the  creation  of  an  accident  and  of 
circumstances.  He  has  been  to  Mount  Vernon, 
and  is  struck  with  the  air  of  neglect  around  the 
place.  Two  of  his  horses  dropped  dead  from  the 
heat  on  the  journey,  and  the  Prince,  who  was 
perspiring  profusely  in  the  crowded  room,  asked 
me  whether  the  climate  was  not  as  bad  as  mid 
summer  in  India.  His  manner  was  perfectly 
easy,  but  he  gave  no  encouragement  to  bores, 
nor  did  he  court  popularity  by  unusual  affabili 
ty,  and  he  moved  off  long  before  the  guests  were 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


181 


tired  of  looking  at  him.  On  returning  to  my 
rooms,  a  German  gentleman  named  Bing— who 
went  out  with  the  Federal  army  from  Washing 
ton,  was  taken  prisoner  at  Bull's  Run,  and  car 
ried  to  Richmond— came  to  visit  me,  but  his  ac 
count  of  what  he  saw  in  the  dark  and  mysteri 
ous  South  was  not  lucid  or  interesting. 

August  8th. — I  had  arranged  to  go  with  Mr. 
Olmsted  and  Mr.  Ritchie  to  visit  the  hospitals, 
but  the  heat  was  so  intolerable,  we  abandoned 
the  idea  till  the  afternoon,  when  we  drove  across 
the  Long  Bridge  and  proceeded  to  Alexandria. 
The  town,  which  is  now  fully  occupied  by  mili 
tary,  and  is  abandoned  by  the  respectable  inhab 
itants,  has  an  air,  owing  to  the  absence  of  wom 
en  and  children,  which  tells  the  tale  of  a  hostile 
occupation.  In  a  large  building,  which  had 
once  been  a  school,  the  wounded  of  Bull  Run 
were  lying,  not  uncomfortably  packed,  nor  un 
skilfully  cared  for,  and  the  arrangements  were, 
taken  altogether,  creditable  to  the  skill  and  hu 
manity  of  the  surgeons.  Close  at  hand  was  the 
church  in  which  George  Washington  was  wont 
in  latter  days  to  pray,  when  he  drove  over  from 
Mount  Vernon  —  further  on,  Marshall  House, 
where  Ellsworth  was  shot  by  the  Virginian  land 
lord,  and  was  so  speedily  avenged.  A  strange 
train  of  thought  was  suggested  by  the  rapid 
grouping  of  incongruous  ideas,  arising  out  of  the 
proximity  of  these  scenes.  As  one  of  my  friends 
said,  "I  wonder  what  Washington  would  do  if 
he  were  here  now — and  how  he  would  act  if  he 
were  summoned  from  that  church  to  Marshall 
House,  or  to  this  hospital?"  The  man  who  ut 
tered  these  words  was  not  either  of  my  compan 
ions,  but  wore  the  shoulder-straps  of  a  Union  of 
ficer.  "  Stranger  still,"  said  I,  "  would  it  be  to 
speculate  on  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  Napo 
leon  in  this  crisis,  if  he  were  to  wake  up  and  see 
a  Prince  of  his  blood  escorted  by  Federal  sol 
diers  to  the  spot  where  the  troops  of  the  South 
ern  States  had  inflicted  on  them  a  signal  defeat, 
in  a  land  where  the  nephew  who  now  sits  on  the 
throne  of  France  has  been  an  exile."  It  is  not 
quite  certain  that  many  Americans  understand 
who  Prince  Napoleon  is,  for  one  of  the  troopers 
belonging  to  the  escort  who  took  him  out  from 
Alexandria  declared  positively  he  had  ridden 
with  the  Emperor.  The  excursion  is  swallowed, 
but  not  well  digested.  In  Washington  the  only 
news  to-night  is,  that  a  small  privateer  from 
Charleston,  mistaking  the  St.  Lawrence  for  a 
merchant-vessel,  fired  into  her,  and  jvas  at  once 
sent  to  Mr.  Davy  Jones  by  a  rattling  broadside. 
Congress  having  adjourned,  there  is  but  little  to 
render  Washington  less  uninteresting  than  it 
must  be  in  its  normal  state. 

The  truculent  and  overbearing  spirit  which 
arises  from  the  uncontroverted  action  of  demo 
cratic  majorities  developes  itself  in  the  North, 
where  they  have  taken  to  burning  newspaper  of 
fices,  and  destroying  all  the  property  belonging 
to  the  proprietors  and  editors.  These  actions  are 
a  strange  commentary  on  Mr.  Seward's  declara 
tion  "that  no  volunteers  are  to  be  refused  be 
cause  they  do  not  speak  English,  inasmuch  as 
the  contest  for  the  Union  is  a  battle  of  the  free 
men  of  the  world  for  the  institutions  of  self-gov 
ernment." 

August  llth. — On  the  old  Indian  principle,  I 
rode  out  this  morning  very  early,  and  was  re 
warded  by  a  breath  of  cold,  fresh  air,  and  by  the 


sight  of  some  very  disorderly  regiments  just 
turning  out  to  parade  in  the  camps ;  but  I  was 
not  particularly  gratified  by  being  mistaken  for 
Prince  Napoleon  by  some  Irish  recruits,  who 
shouted  out,  "Bonaparte  for  ever  !"  and  gradu 
ally  subsided  into  requests  for  "something  to 
drink  your  Royal  Highness' s  health  with."  As 
I  returned,  I  saw  on  the  steps  of  General  Mans 
field's  quarters  a  tall,  soldierly -looking  young 
man,  whose  breast  was  covered  with  Crimean 
ribbons  and  medals,  and  I  recognised  him  as  one 
who  had  called  upon  me  a  few  days  before,  re 
newing  our  slight  acquaintance  before  Sebasto- 
pol,  where  his  courage  was  conspicuous,  to  ask 
me  for  information  respecting  the  mode  of  ob 
taining  a  commission  in  the  Federal  army. 

Towards  mid-day  an  ebony  sheet  of  clouds 
swept  over  the  city.  I  went  out,  regardless  of 
the  threatening  storm,  to  avail  myself  of  the  cool 
ness  to  make  a  few  visits ;  but  soon  a  violent 
wind  arose,  bearing  clouds  like  those  of  an  In 
dian  dust-storm  down  the  streets.  The  black 
sheet  overhead  became  agitated  like  the  sea,  and 
tossed  about  grey  clouds,  which  careered  against 
each  other  and  burst  into  lightning ;  then  sud 
denly,  without  other  warning,  down  came  the 
rain — a  perfect  tornado ;  sheets  of  water  flood 
ing  the  streets  in  a  moment,  turning  the  bed  into 
water-courses  and  the  channels  into  deep  rivers. 
I  waded  up  the  centre  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
past  the  President's  house,  in  a  current  which 
would  have  made  a  respectable  trout-stream ; 
and  on  getting  opposite  my  own  door,  made  a 
rush  for  the  porch,  but,  forgetting  the  deep  chan 
nel  at  the  side,  stepped  into  a  rivulet  which  was 
literally  above  my  hips,  and  I  was  carried  off  my 
legs,  till  I  succeeded  in  catching  the -kerbstone, 
and  escaped  into  the  hall  as  if  I  had  just  swum 
across  the  Potomac. 

On  returning  from  my  ride  next  morning,  I 
took  up  the  Baltimore  paper,  and  saw  a  para 
graph  announcing  the  death  of  an  English  offi 
cer  at  the  station  ;  it  was  the  poor  fellow  whom 
I  saw  sitting  at  General  Mansfield's  steps  yester 
day.  The  consul  was  absent  on  a  short  tour, 
rendered  necessary  by  the  failure  of  his  health 
consequent  on  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  Find 
ing  the  Legation  were  anxious  to  see  due  care 
ta'ken  of  the  poor  fellow's  remains,  I  left  for  Bal 
timore  at  a  quarter  to  three  o'clock,  and  proceed 
ed  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances  connected 
with  his  death.  He  had  been  struck  down  at 
the  station  by  some  cerebral  attack,  brought  on 
by  the  heat  and  excitement ;  had  been  carried 
to  the  police  station  and  placed  upon  a  bench, 
from  which  he  had  fallen  with  his  head  down 
wards,  and  was  found  in  that  position,  with  life 
quite  extinct,  by  a  casual  visitor.  My  astonish 
ment  may  be  conceived  when  I  learned  that  not 
only  had  the  Coroner's  inquest  sat  and  returned 
its  verdict,  but  that  the  man  had  absolutely  been 
buried  the  same  morning,  and  so  my  mission 
was  over,  and  I  could  only  report  what  had  oc 
curred  at  Washington.  Little  value  indeed  has 
human  life  in  this  new  world,  to  which  the  old 
gives  vital  power  so  lavishly,  that  it  is  regarded 
as  almost  worthless.  I  have  seen  more  "fuss" 
made  over  an  old  woman  killed  by  a  cab  in  Lon 
don  than  there  is  over  half  a  dozen  deaths,  with 
suspicion  of  murder  attached,  in  New  Orleans  or 
New  York. 

I  remained  in  Baltimore  a  few  days,  and  had 


182 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


an  opportunity  of  knowing  the  feelings  of  some 
of  the  leading  men  in  the  place.  It  may  be  de 
scribed  in  one  word — intense  hatred  of  New  En 
gland  and  black  republicans,  which  has  been  in 
creased  to  mania  by  the  stringent  measures  of 
the  military  dictator  of  the  American  Warsaw, 
the  searches  of  private  houses,  domiciliary  visits, 
arbitrary  arrests,  the  suppression  of  adverse  jour 
nals,  the  overthrow  of  the  corporate  body — all 
the  acts,  in  fact,  which  constitute  the  machinery 
and  the  grievances  of  a  tyranny.  When  I  spoke 
of  the  brutal  indifference  of  the  police  to  the  poor 
officer  previously  mentioned,  the  Baltimoreans 
told  me  the  constables  appointed  by  the  Federal 
general  were  scoundrels  who  led  the  Plug  Uglies 
in  former  days — the  worst  characters  in  a  city 
not  sweet  or  savoury  in  repute — but  that  the  old 
police  were  men  of  very  different  description. 
The  Maryland  Club,  where  I  had  spent  some 
pleasant  hours,  was  now  like  a  secret  tribunal  or 
the  haunt  of  conspirators.  The  police  entered 
it  a  few  days  ago,  searched  every  room,  took  up 
the  flooring,  and  even  turned  up  the  coals  in  the 
kitchen  and  the  wine  in  the  cellar.  Such  indig 
nities  fired  the  blood  of  the  members,  who  are, 
with  one  exception,  opposed  to  the  attempt  to 
coerce  the  South  by  the  sword.  Not  one  of 
them  but  could  tell  of  some  outrage  perpetrated 
on  himself  or  on  some  members  of  his  family  by 
the  police  and  Federal  authority.  Many  a  de 
lator  amid  was  suspected  but  not  convicted. 
Men  sat  moodily  reading  the  papers  with  knit 
ted  brows,  or  whispering  in  corners,  taking  each 
other  apart,  and  glancing  suspiciously  at  their 
fellows. 

There  is  a  peculiar  stamp  about  the  Baltimore 
men  which  distinguishes  them  from  most  Amer 
icans — a  style  of  dress,  frankness  of  manner,  and 
a  general  appearance  assimmilating  them  close 
ly  to  the  upper  classes  of  Englishmen.  They 
are  fond  of  sport  and  travel,  exclusive  and  high- 
spirited,  and  the  iron  rule  of  the  Yankee  is  the 
more  intolerable  because  they  dare  not  resent  it, 
and  are  unable  to  shake  it  off. 

I  returned  to  Washington  on  loth  August. 
Nothing  changed;  skirmishes  along  the  front; 
M  'Clellan  reviewing.  The  loss  of  General  Lyon, 
who  was  killed  in  an  action  with  the  Confeder 
ates  under  Ben  McCullough,  at  Wilson's  Creek, 
Springfield,  Missouri,  in  which  the  Unionists  were 
with  difficulty  extricated  by  General  Sigel  from 
a  very  dangerous  position,  after  the  death  of  their 
leader,  is  severely  felt.  He  was  one  of  the  very 
few  officers  who  combined  military  skill  and  per 
sonal  bravery  with  political  sagacity  and  moral 
firmness.  The  President  has  issued  his  procla 
mation  for  a  day  of  fast  and  prayer,  which,  say 
the  Baltimoreans,  is  a  sign  that  the  Yankees  are 
in  a  bad  way,  as  they  would  never  think  of  pray 
ing  or  fasting  if  their  cause  was  prospering.  The 
stories  which  have  been  so  sedulously  spread, 
and  which  never  will  be  quite  discredited,  of  the 
barbarity  and  cruelty  of  the  Confederates  to  all 
the  wounded,  ought  to  be  set  at  rest  by  the  print 
ed  statement  of  the  eleven  Union  surgeons  just 
released,  who  have  come  back  from  Richmond, 
where  they  were  sent  after  their  capture  on  the 
field  of  Bull  Run,  with  the  most  distinct  testimo 
ny  that  the  Confederates  treated  their  prisoners 
•with  humanity.  Who  are  the  miscreants  who 
tried  to  make  the  evil  feeling,  quite  strong-enough 
as  it  is,  perfectly  fiendish,  by  asserting  the  rebels 


burned  the  wounded  in  hospitals,  and  bayoneted 
them  as  they  lay  helpless  on  the  field  ? 

The  pecuniary  difficulties  of  the  Government 
have  been  alleviated  by  the  bankers  of  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Boston,  who  have  agreed  to 
lend  them  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  on  condition 
that  they  receive  the  Treasury  notes  which  Mr. 
Chase  is  about  to  issue.  As  we  read  the  papers 
and  hear  the  news,  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that 
the  foundations  of  society  are  not  melting  away 
in  the  heat  of  this  conflict.  Thus,  a  Federal 
judge,  named  Garrison,  who  has  issued  his  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  for  certain  prisoners  in  Fort 
Lafayette,  being  quietly  snuffed  out  by  the  com 
mandant,  Colonel  Burke,  desires  to  lead  an  army 
against  the  fort  and  have  a  little  civil  war  of  his 
own  in  New  York.  He  applies  to  the  command 
er  of  the  county  militia,  who  informs  Garrison 
he  can't  get  into  the  fort,  as  there  was  no  artil 
lery  strong  enough  to  breach  the  walls,  and  that 
it  would  require  10,000  men  to  invest  it,  where 
as  only  1400  militiamen  were  available.  What 
a  farceur  Judge  Garrison  must  be!  In  addition 
to  the  gutting  and  burning  of  newspaper  offices, 
and  the  exercitation  of  the  editors  on  rails,  the 
republican  grand  juries  have  taken  to  indicting 
the  democratic  journals,  and  Fremont's  provost 
marshal  in  St.  Louis  has,  proprio  motu,  suppress 
ed  those  which  he  considers  disaffected.  A  mu 
tiny  which  broke  out  in  the  Scotch  Regiment 
79th  N.  Y.  has  been  followed  by  another  in  the 
2nd  Maine  Regiment,  and  a  display  of  cannon 
and  of  cavalry  was  required  to  induce  them  to 
allow  the  ringleaders  to  be  arrested.  The  Pres 
ident  was  greatly  alarmed,  but  M 'Clellan  acted 
with  some  vigour,  and  the  refractory  volunteers 
are  to  be  sent  off  to  a  pleasant  station  called  the 
"Dry  Tortugas"  to  work  on  the  fortifications. 

Mr.  Seward,  with  whom  I  dined  and  spent  the 
evening  on  16th  August,  has  been  much  reas 
sured  and  comforted  by  the  demonstrations  of 
readiness  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  continue 
the  contest,  and  of  confidence  in  the  cause  among 
the  moneyed  men  of  the  great  cities.  "All 
we  want  is  time  to  develope  our  strength.  We 
have  been  blamed  for  not  making  greater  use  of 
our  navy  and  extending  it  at  once.  It  was  our 
first  duty  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  our  capital. 
Besides,  a  man  will  generally  pay  little  attention 
to  agencies  he  does  not  understand.  None  of  us 
knew  anything  about  a  navy.  I  doubt  if  the 
President  ever  saw  anything  more  formidable 
than  a  river  steamboat,  and  I  don't  think  Mr. 
Welles,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  knew  the  stem 
from  the  stern  of  a  ship.  Of  the  whole  Cabinet, 
I  am  the  only  member  who  ever  was  fairly  at 
sea  or  crossed  the  Atlantic.  Some  of  us  never 
even  saw  it.  No  wonder  we  did  not  understand 
the  necessity  for  creating  a  navy  at  once.  Soon, 
however,  our  Government  will  be  able  to  dispose 
of  a  respectable  marine,  and  when  our  army  is 
ready  to  move,  co-operating  with  the  fleet,  the 
days  of  the  rebellion  are  numbered." 

"When  will  that  be,  Mr.  Secretary  ?" 

"  Soon  ;  very  soon,  I  hope.  We  can,  howev 
er,  bear  delays.  The  rebels  will  be  ruined  by  it." 


CHAPTER  LIII. 

Return  to  Baltimore  —  Colonel  Carroll  —  A  Priest's  view 
of  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  —  Slavery  in  Maryland  — 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


183 


Harper's  Ferry— John  Brown— Back  by  train  to  Wash- 
ington — Further  accounts  of  Bull  Run — American  van 
ity —  My  own  unpopularity  for  speaking  the  truth  — 
Killing  a  u  Digger"  no  murder — Navy  Department. 

ON  the  17th  August  I  returned  to  Baltimore 
on  my  way  to  Drohoregan  Manor,  the  seat  of 
Colonel  Carroll,  in  Maryland,  where  I  had  been 
invited  to  spend  a  few  days  by  his  son-in-law,  an 
English  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance.  Leav 
ing  Baltimore  at  5.40  P.M.,  in  company  with  Mr. 
Tucker  Carroll,  I  proceeded  by  train  to  Ellicott's 
Mills,  a  station  fourteen  miles  on  the  Ohio  and 
Baltimore  railroad,  from  which  our  host's  resi 
dence  is  distant  more  than  an  hour's  drivfe.  The 
countiy  through  which  the  line  passes  is  pictur 
esque  and  undulating,  with  hills  and  valleys  and 
brawling  streams,  spreading  in  woodland  and 
glade,  ravine,  and  high  uplands  on  either  side, 
haunted  by  cotton  factories,  poisoning  air  and 
water ;  but  it  has  been  A  formidable  district  for 
the  engineers  to  get  through,  and  the  line  abounds 
in  those  triumphs  of  engineering  which  are  gen 
erally  the  ruin  of  shareholders. 

All  these  lines  are  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
military.  At  the  Washington  terminus  there  is 
a  guard  placed  to  see  that  no  unauthorised  per 
son  or  unwilling  volunteer  is  going  north ;  the 
line  is  watched  by  patrols  and  sentries ;  troops 
are  encamped  along  its  course.  The  factory 
chimneys  are  smokeless  ;  half  the  pleasant  villas 
which  cover  the  hills  or  dot  the  openings  in  the 
forest  have  a  deserted  look  and  closed  windows. 
And  so  these  great  works,  the  Carrolton  viaduct, 
the  Thomas  viaduct,  and  the  high  embankments 
and  great  cuttings  in  the  ravine  by  the  river  side, 
over  which  the  line  passes,  have  almost  a  de 
pressing  effect,  as  if  the  people  for  whose  use 
they  were  intended  had  all  become  extinct.  At 
Ellicott's  Mills,  which  is  a  considerable  manu 
facturing  town,  more  soldiers  and  Union  flags. 
The  people  are  Unionists,  but  the  neighbouring 
gentry  and  country  people  are  Seceshers. 

This  is  the  case  wherever  there  is  a  manufac 
turing  population  in  Mary  land,  because  the  work 
men  are  generally  foreigners,  or  have  come  from 
the  Northern  States,  and  feel  little  sympathy 
with  States  rights'  doctrines,  and  the  tendencies 
of  the  landed  gentry  to  a  Conservative  action  on 
the  slave  question.  There  was  no  good  will  in 
the  eyes  of  the  mechanicals  as  they  stared  at  our 
vehicle ;  for  the  political  bias  of  Colonel  Carroll 
was  well  known,  as  well  as  the  general  senti 
ments  of  his  family.  It  was  dark  when  we 
reached  the  manor,  which  is  approached  by  an 
avenue  of  fine  trees.  The  house  is  old-fashion 
ed,  and  has  received  additions  from  time  to  time. 
But  for  the  black  faces  of  the  domestics,  one 
might  easily  fancy  he  was  in  some  old  country 
house  in  Ireland.  The  family  have  adhered  to 
their  ancient  faith.  The  founder  of  the  Carrolls 
in  Maryland  came  over  with  the  Catholic  col 
onists  led  by  Lord  Baltimore,  or  by  his  brother, 
Leonard  Calvert,  and  the  colonel  possesses  some 
interesting  deeds  of  grant  and  conveyance  of  the 
vast  estates,  which  have  been  diminished  by  large 
sales  year  after  year,  but  still  spread  over  a  con 
siderable  part  of  several  counties  in  the  State. 

Colonel  Carroll  is  an  immediate  descendant 
of  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  revolution  of  1776, 
and  he  pointed  out  to  me  the  room  in  which  Car 
roll,  of  Carrolton,  and  George  Washington,  were 
wont  to  meet  when  they  were  concocting  their 


splendid  treason.  One  of  his  connections  mar 
ried  the  late  Marquis  Wellesley,  and  the  colonel 
takes  pleasure  in  setting  forth  how  the  daughter 
of  the  Irish  recusant,  who  fled  from  his  native 
country  all  but  an  outlaw,  sat  on  the  throne  of 
the  Queen  of  Ireland,  or,  in  other  words,  held 
court  in  Dublin  Castle  as  wife  of  the  Viceroy. 
Drohoregan  is  supposed  to  mean  "  Hall  of  the 
Kings,"  and  called  after  an  old  place  belonging, 
some  time  or  other,  to  the  family,  the  early  his 
tory  of  which,  as  set  forth  in  the  Celtic  author 
ities  and  Irish  antiquarian  works,  possesses  great 
attractions  for  the  kindly,  genial  old  man — kind 
ly  and  genial  to  all  but  the  Abolitionists  and 
black  republicans ;  nor  is  he  indifferent  to  the 
reputation  of  the  State  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  where  the  "Maryland  line"  seems  to  have 
differed  from  many  of  the  contingents  of  the  oth 
er  States  in  not  running  away  so  often  at  crit 
ical  moments  in  the  serious  actions.  Colonel 
Carroll  has  sound  arguments  to  prove  the  sover 
eign  independence  and  right  of  every  State  in 
the  Union,  derived  from  family  teaching  and  the 
lessons  of  those  who  founded  the  Constitution  it 
self. 

•On  the  day  after  my  arrival  the  rain  fell  in 
torrents.  The  weather  is  as  uncertain  as  that 
of  our  own  isle.  The  torrid  heats  at  Washington, 
the  other  day,  were  succeeded  by  bitter  cold  days; 
now  there  is  a  dense  mist,  chilly  and  cheerless, 
seeming  as  a  sort  of  strainer  for  the  even  down 
pour  that  falls  through  it  continuously.  The 
family,  after  breakfast,  slipped  round  to  the  little 
chapel  which  forms  the  extremity  of  one  wing 
of  the  house.  The  coloured  people  on  the  estate 
were  already  trooping  across  the  lawn  and  up 
the  avenue  from  the  slave  quarters,  decently 
dressed  for  the  most  part,  having  due  allowance 
for  the  extraordinary  choice  of  colours  in  their 
gowns,  bonnets,  and  ribbons,  and  for  the  unhappy 
imitations,  on  the  part  of  the  men,  of  the  attire 
of  their  masters.  They  walked  demurely  and 
quietly  past  the  house,  and  presently  the  priest, 
dressed  like  a  French  cure,  trotted  up,  and  serv 
ice  began.  The  negro*  houses  were  of  a  much 
better  and  more  substantial  character  than  those 
one  sees  in  the  South,  though  not  remarkable  for 
cleanliness  and  good  order.  Truth  to  say,  they 
were  palaces  compared  to  the  huts  of  Irish  la 
bourers,  such  as  might  be  found,  perhaps,  on  the 
estates  of  the  colonel's  kinsmen  at  home.  The 
negroes  are  far  more  independent  than  they  are 
in  the  South.  They  are  less  civil,  less  obliging, 
and,  although  they  do  not  come  cringing  to  shake 
hands  as  the  field-hands  on  a  Louisiana  planta 
tion,  less  servile.  They  inhabit  a  small  village 
of  brick  and  wood  houses,  across  the  road,  at  the 
end  of  the  avenue,  and  in  sight  of  the  house. 
The  usual  swarms  of  little  children,  poultry, 
pigs,  enlivened  by  goats,  embarrassed  the  steps 
of  the  visitor,  and  the  old  people,  or  those  who 
were  not  finely  di-essed  enough  for  mass,  peered 
out  at  the  strangers  from  the  glassless  windows. 

When  chapel  was  over,  the  boys  and  girls  came 
up  for  catechism,  and  passed  in  review  before  the 
ladies  of  the  house,  with  whom  they  were  on  very 
good  terms.  The  priest  joined  us  in  the  veran 
dah  when  his  labours  were  over,  and  talked  with 
intelligence  of  the  terrible  war  which  has  burst 
over  the  land.  He  has  just  returned  from  a 
tour  in  the  Northern  States,  and  it  is  his  belief 
the  native  Americans  there  will  not  enlist,  but 


184 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


that  they  will  get  foreigners  to  fight  their  bat 
tles.  He  admitted  that  slavery  was  in  itself  an 
evil,  nay,  more,  that  it  was  not  profitable  in  Ma 
ryland.  But  what  are  the  landed  proprietors  to 
do  ?  The  slaves  have  been  bequeathed  to  them 
as  property  by  their  fathers,  with  certain  obliga 
tions  to  be  respected,  and  duties  to  be  fulfilled. 
It  is  impossible  to  free  them,  because,  at  the  mo 
ment  of  emancipation,  nothing  short  of  the  con 
fiscation  of  all  the  labour  and  property  of  the 
whites  would  be  required  to  maintain  the  ne 
groes,  who  would  certainly  refuse  to  work  un 
less  they  had  their  masters'  land  as  their  own. 
Where  is  white  labour  to  be  found  ?  Its  intro 
duction  must  be  the  work  of  years,  and  mean 
time  many  thousands  of  slaves,  who  have  a  right 
to  protection,  would  canker  the  land. 

In  Maryland  they  do  not  breed  slaves  for  the 
purpose  of  selling  them  as  they  do  in  Virginia, 
and  yet  Colonel  Carroll  and  other  gentlemen, 
who  regarded  the  slaves  they  inherited  almost 
as  members  of  their  families,  have  been  stigma 
tised  by  abolition  orators  as  slave-breeders  and 
slave-dealers.  It  was  these  insults  which  stung 
the  gentlemen  of  Maryland  and  of  the  other 
Slave  States  to>  the  quick,  and  made  them  re 
solve  never  to  yield  to  the  domination  of  a  party 
which  had  never  ceased  to  wage  war  against  their 
institutions  and  their  reputation  and  honour. 

A  little  knot  of  friends  and  relations  joined 
Colonel  Carroll  at  dinner.  There  are  few  fam 
ilies  in  this  part  of  Maryland  which  have  not 
representatives  in  the  other  army  across  the  Po 
tomac  ;  and  if  Beauregard  could  but  make  his 
appearance,  the  women  alone  would  give  him 
welcome  such  as  no  conqueror  ever  received  in 
liberated  city. 

Next  day  the  rain  fell  incessantly.  The  mail 
was  brought  in  by  a  little  negro  boy  on  horse 
back,  and  I  was  warned  by  my  letters  that  an 
immediate  advance  of  M'Clellan's  troops  was 
probable.  This  is  an  old  story.  "Battle  ex 
pected  to-morrow"  has  been  a  heading  in  the 
papers  for  the  last  fortnight.  In  the  afternoon 
I  was  driven  over  a  part  of  the  estate  in  a  close 
carriage,  through  the  windows  of  which,  how 
ever,  I  caught  glimpses  of  a  beautiful  country, 
wooded  gloriously,  and  soft,  sylvan,  and  well- 
cultivated  as  the  best  parts  of  Hampshire  and 
Gloucestershire,  the  rolling  lands  of  which  latter 
country,  indeed,  it  much  resembled  in  its  large 
fields,  heavy  with  crops  of  tobacco  and  corn. 
The  weather  was  too  unfavourable  to  admit  of  a 
close  inspection  of  the  fields ;  but  I  visited  one 
or  two  tobacco  houses,  where  the  fragrant  Mary 
land  was  lying  in  masses  on  the  ground,  or  hang 
ing  from  the  rafters,  or  filled  the  heavy  hogs 
heads  with  compressed  smoke. 

Next  day  I  took  the  train  at  Ellicott's  Mills, 
and  went  to  Harper's  Ferry.  There  is  no  one 
spot,  in  the  history  of  this  extraordinary  war, 
which  can  be  well  more  conspicuous.  Had  it 
nothing  more  to  recommend  it  than  the  scenery, 
it  might  well  command  a  visit  from  the  tourist ; 
but  as  the  scene  of  old  John  Brown's  raid  upon 
the  Federal  arsenal,  of  that  first  passage  of  arms 
between  the  abolitionists  and  the  slave  conserva 
tives,  which  has  developed  this  great  contest; 
above  all,  as  the  spot  where  important  military 
demonstrations  have  been  made  on  both  sides, 
and  will  necessarily  occur  hereafter,  this  place, 
which  probably  derives  its  name  from  some 


wretched  old  boatman,  will  be  renowned  for  ever 
in  the  annals  of  the  civil  war  of  1861 .  The  Pa- 
tapsco,  by  the  bank  of  which  the  rail  is  carried 
for  some  miles,  has  all  the  character  of  a  moun 
tain  torrent,  rushing  through  gorges  or  carving 
out  its  way  at  the  base  of  granite  hills,  or  boldly 
cutting  a  path  for  itself  through  the  softer  slate. 
Bridges,  viaducts, remarkable  archways,  and  great 
spans  of  timber  trestle-work  leaping  from  hill  to 
hill,  enable  the  rail  to  creep  onwards  and  up 
wards  by  the  mountain  side  to  the  Potomap  at 
Point  of  Rocks,  whence  it  winds  its  way  over 
undulating  ground,  by  stations  with  eccentric 
names  #o  the  river's  bank  once  more.  We  were 
carried  on  to  the  station  next  to  Harper's  Ferry 
on  a  ledge  of  the  precipitous  mountain  range 
which  almost  overhangs  the  stream.  But  few 
civilians  were  in  the  train.  The  greater  number 
of  passengers  consisted  of  soldiers  and  sutlers, 
proceeding  to  their  encampments  along  the  river. 
A  strict  watch  was  kept  over  the  passengers, 
whose  passes  were  examined  by  officers  at  the 
various  stations.  At  one  place  an  officer  who 
really  looked  like  a  soldier  entered  the  train, 
and  on  seeing  my  pass  told  me  in  broken  En 
glish  that  he  had  served  in  the  Crimea,  and  was 
acquainted  with  me  and  many  of  my  friends. 
The  gentleman  who  accompanied  me  "observed, 
"I  do  not  know  whether  he  was  in  the  Crimea 
or  not,  but  I  do  know  that  till  very  lately  your 
friend  the  Major  was  a  dancing-master  in  New 
York."  A  person  of  a  very  different  type  made 
his  offers  of  service,  Colonel  Gordon,  of  the  2nd 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  who  caused  the  train  to 
run  on  as  far  as  Harper's  Ferry,  in  order  to  giro 
me  a  sight  of  the  place,  although  in  consequence 
of  the  evil  habit  of  firing  on  the  carriages  in 
which  the  Confederates  across  the  river  have  been 
indulging,  the  locomotive  generally  halts  at  some 
distance  below  the  bend  of  the  river. 

Harper's  Ferry  lies  in  a  gorge  formed  by  a  rush 
of  the  Potomac  through  the  mountain  ridges, 
which  it  cuts  at  right  angles  to  its  course  at  its 
junction  with  the  river  Shenandoah.  So  trench 
ant  and  abrupt  is  the  division  that  little  land  is 
on  the  divided  ridge  to  build  upon.  The  pre 
cipitous  hills  on  both  sides  are  covered  with  for 
est,  which  has  been  cleared  in  patches  here  and 
there  on  the  Maryland  shore,  to  permit  of  the 
erection  of  batteries.  On  the  Virginian  side 
there  lies  a  mass  of  blackened  and  ruined  build 
ings,  from  which  a  street  lined  with  good  houses 
stretches  up  the  hill.  Just  above  the  junction 
of  the  Shenandoah  with  the  Potomac,  an  ele 
vated  bridge  or  viaduct  300  yards  long  leaps 
from  hill-side  to  hill-side.  The  arches  had  been 
broken — the  rails  which  ran  along  the  top  torn 
up,  and  there  is  now  a  deep  gulf  fixed  between 
the  shores  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  rail 
to  Winchester  from  this  point  has  been  destroy 
ed,  and  the  line  along  the  Potomac  has  also  been 
ruined. 

But  for  the  batteries  which  cover  the  shoal 
water  at  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers  below  the 
bridge,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  crossing 
to  the  Maryland  shore,  and  from  that  side  the 
whole  of  the  ground  around  Harper's  Ferry  is 
completely  commanded.  The  gorge  is  almost 
as  deep  as  the  pass  of  Killiecrankie,  which  it 
resembles  in  most  respects  except  in  breadth  and 
the  size  of  the  river  between,  and  if  ever  a  rail 
road  finds  its  way  to  Blair  Athol,  the  passengers 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


185 


will  find  something  to  look  at  very  like  the  scen 
ery  on  the  route  to  Harper's  Ferry.  The  vigi 
lance  required  to  guard  the  pass  of  the  river 
above  and  below  this  point  is  incessant,  but  the 
Federals  possess  the  advantage  on  their  side  of 
a  deep  canal  parallel  to  the  railway  and  running 
above  the  level  of  the  river,  which  would  be  a 
more  formidable  obstacle  than  the  Potomac  to 
infantry  or  guns.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  Secessionists  in  Maryland  cross  backwards 
and  forwards  whenever  they  please,  and  the  Vir 
ginians,  coming  down  at  their  leisure  to  the  op 
posite  shore,  inflict  serious  annoyance  on  the 
Federal  troops  by  constant  rifle  practice. 

Looking  up  and  down  the  river  the  scenery  is 
picturesque,  though  it  is  by  no  means  entitled  to 
the  extraordinary  praises  which  American  tour 
ists  lavish  upon  it.  Probably  old  John  Brown 
cared  little  for  the  wild  magic  of  streamlet  or 
rill,  or  for  the  blended  charm  of  vale  and  wood 
land.  When  he  made  his  attack  on  the  arsenal 
now  in  ruins,  he  probably  thought  a  valley  was 
as  high  as  a  hill,  and  that  there  was  no  necessity 
for  water  running  downwards — assuredly  he  saw 
as  little  of  the  actual  heights  and  depths  around 
him  when  he  ran  across  the  Potomac  to  revolu 
tionize  Virginia.  He  has  left  behind  him  mil 
lions  either  as  clear-sighted  or  as  blind  as  him 
self.  In  New  England  parlours  a  statuette  of 
John  Brown  may  be  found  as  a  pendant  to  the 
likeness  of  our  Saviour.  In  Virginia  his  name 
is  the  synonym  of  all  that  is  base,  bloody,  and 
cruel. 

Harper's  Ferry  at  present,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  may  be  considered  as  Confederate  prop 
erty.  The  few  Union  inhabitants  remain  in  their 
houses,  but  many  of  the  Government  workmen 
and  most  of  the  inhabitants  have  gone  off  South. 
For  strategical  purposes  its  possession  would  be 
most  important  to  a  force  desiring  to  operate  on 
Maryland  from  Virginia.  The  Blue  Ridge  range 
running  up  to  the  Shenandoah  divides  the  coun 
try  so  as  to  permit  a  force  debouching  from  Har 
per's  Ferry  to  advance  down  the  valley  of  the 
Shenandoah  on  the  right,  or  to  move  to  the  left 
between  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Katoctin  mount 
ains  towards  the  Manassas  railway  at  its  discre 
tion.  After  a  false  alarm  that  some  Secesh  cav 
alry  were  coming  down  to  renew  the  skirmish 
ing  of  the  day  before,  I  returned,  and,  travelling 
to  Relay  House,  just  saved  the  train  to  Washing 
ton,  where  I  arrived  after  sunset.  A  large  num 
ber  of  Federal  troops  are  employed  along  these 
lines,  which  they  occupy  as  if  they  were  in  a  hos 
tile  country.  An  imperfectly  formed  regiment 
broken  up  into  these  detachments,  and  placed  in 
isolated  posts,  under  ignorant  officers,  may  be  re 
garded  as  almost  worthless  for  military  opera 
tions.  Hence  the  constant  night  alarms — the 
mistakes — the  skirmishes  and  instances  of  mis 
behaviour  which  arise  along  these  extended 
lines. 

On  the  journey  from  Harper's  Ferry,  the  con 
centration  of  masses  of  troops  along  the  road, 
and  the  march  of  heavy  artillery  trains,  caused 
me  to  think  a  renewal  of  the  offensive  movement 
against  Richmond  was  immediate,  but  at  Wash 
ington  I  heard  that  all  M'Clellan  wanted  or 
hoped  for  at  present  was  to  make  Maryland  safe 
and  to  gain  time  for  the  formation  of  his  army. 
The  Confederates  appear  to  be  moving  towards 
their  left,  and  M  'Clellan  is  very  uneasy  lest  they 


should  make  a  vigorous  attack  before  he  is  pre 
pared  to  receive  them. 

In  the  evening  the  New  York  papers  came  in 
with  the  extracts  from  the  London  papers  con 
taining  my  account  of  the  battle  of  Bull's  Run. 
Utterly  forgetting  their  own  versions  of  the  en 
gagement,  the  New  York  editors  now  find  it  con 
venient  to  divert  attention  from  the  bitter  truth 
that  was  in  them  to  the  letter  of  the  foreign 
newspaper  correspondent,  who,  because  he  is  a 
British  subject,  will  prove  not  only  iiseful  as  a 
conductor  to  carry  off  the  popular  wrath  from 
the  American  journalists  themselves,  but  as  a 
means  by  induction  of  charging  the  vials  afresh 
against  the  British  people,  inasmuch  as  they  have 
not  condoled  with  the  North  on  the  defeat  of 
armies  which  they  were  assured  would,  if  suc 
cessful,  be  immediately  led  to  effect  the  disrup 
tion  of  the  British  empire.  At  the  outset  1  had 
foreseen  this  would  be  the  case,  and  deliberately 
accepted  the  issue  ;  but  when  I  found  the  North 
ern  journals  far  exceeding  in  severity  anything  I 
could  have  said,  and  indulging  in  general  in 
vective  against  whole  classes  of  American  sol 
diery,  officers,  and  statesmen,  I  was  foolish  enough 
to  expect  a  little  justice,  not  to  say  a  word  of  the 
smallest  generosity. 

August  2lst. — The  echoes  of  Bull  Run  are 
coming  back  with  a  vengeance.  This  day  month 
the  miserable  fragments  of  a  beaten,  washed  out, 
demoralised  army  were  flooding  in  disorder  and 
dismay  the  streets  of  the  capital  from  which  they 
had  issued  forth .  to  repel  the  tide  of  invasion. 
This  day  month,  and  all  the  editors  and  journal 
ists  in  the  States,  weeping,  wailing,  and  gnash 
ing  their  teeth,  infused  extra  gall  into  their  ink, 
and  poured  out  invective,  abuse,  and  obloquy  on 
their  defeated  general  and  their  broken  hosts. 
The  President  and  his  ministei-s,  stunned  by  the  ' 
tremendous  calamity,  sat  listening  in  fear  and 
trembling  for  the  sound  of  the  enemy's  cannon. 
The  veteran  soldier,  on  whom  the  boasted  hopes 
of  the  nation  rested,  heartsick  and  beaten  down, 
had  neither  counsel  to  give  nor  action  to  offer. 
At  any  moment  the  Confederate  columns  might 
be  expected  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue  to  receive 
the  welcome  of  their  friends  and  the  submission 
of  their  helpless  and  disheartened  enemies. 

All  this  is  forgotten — and  much  more,  which 
need  not  now  be  repeated.  Saved  from  a  great 
peril,  even  the  bitterness  of  death,  they  forget  the 
danger  that  has  passed,  deny  that  they  uttered 
cries  of  distress  and  appeals  for  help,  and  swag 
ger  in  all  the  insolence  of  recovered  strength. 
Not  only  that,  but  they  turn  and  rend  those 
whose  writing  has  been  dug  up  after  thirty  days, 
and  comes  back  as  a  rebuke  to  their  pride. 

Conscious  that  they  have  insulted  and  irritated 
their  own  army,  that  they  have  earned  the  bitter 
hostility  of  men  in  power,  and  have  for  once  in 
flicted  a  wound  on  the  vanity  to  which  they  have 
given  such  offensive  dimensions,  if  not  life  itself, 
they  now  seek  to  run  a  drag  scent  between  the 
public  nose  and  their  own  unpopularity,  and  to 
create  such  an  amount  of  indignation  and  to 
cast  so  much  odium  upon  one  who  has  had 
greater  facilities  to  know,  and  is  more  willing  to 
tell  the  truth,  than  any  of  their  organs,  that  he 
will  be  unable  henceforth  to  perform  his  duties 
in  a  country  where  unpopularity  means  simply  a 
political  and  moral  atrophy  or  death.  In  the 
telegraphic  summary  some  days  ago  a  few  phrases 


186 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


were  picked  out  of  my  letters,  which  were  but 
very  faint  paraphrases  of  some  of  the  sentences 
which  might  be  culled  from  Northern  newspa 
pers,  but  the  storm  has  been  gathering  ever  since, 
and  I  am  no  doubt  to  experience  the  truth  of 
De  Tocqueville's  remark,  "that  a  stranger  who 
injures  American  vanity,  no  matter  how  justly, 
may  make  up  his  mind  to  be  a  martyr." 
August  22nd.— 

"  The  little  dogs  and  all, 
Tray,  Blanche,  and  Sweetheart, 
See  they  bark  at  me." 

The  North  have  recovered  their  wind,  and  their 
pipers  are  blowing  with  might  and  main.  The 
time  given  them  to  breathe  after  Bull  Run  has 
certainly  been  accompanied  with  a  greater  de 
velopment  of  lung  and  power  of  blowing  than 
could  have  been  expected.  The  volunteer  army 
which  dispersed  and  returned  home  to  receive 
the  lo  Pceans  of  the  North,  has  been  replaced  by 
better  and  more  numerous  levies,  which  have  the 
strong  finger  and  thumb  of  General  M'Clellan 
on  their  windpipe,  and  find  it  is  not  quite  so 
easy  as  it  was  to  do  as  they  pleased.  The  North, 
besides,  has  received  supplies  of  money,  and  is 
using  its  great  resources,  by  land  and  sea,  to 
some  purpose,  and  as  they  wax  fat  they  kick. 

A  general  officer  said  to  me,  "Of  course  you 
will  never  remain  when  once  all  the  press  are 
down  upon  you.  I  would  not  take  a  million 
dollai-s  and  be  in  your  place."  "But  is  what 
I've  written  untrue  ?"  "  God  bless  you !  do  you 
know,  in  this  country,  if  you  can  get  enough  of 
people  to  start  a  lie  about  any  man,  he  would  be 
ruined,  if  the  Evangelists  came  forward  to  swear 
the  story  was  false  There  are  thousands  of 
people  who  this  moment  believe  that  M'Dowell, 
who  never  tasted  anything  stronger  than  a  wa 
termelon  in  all  his  life,  was  helplessly  drunk  at 
Bull's  Run.  Mind  what  I  say  ;  they'll  run  you 
into  a  mud-hole  as  sure  as  you  live."  I  was 
not  much  impressed  with  the  danger  of  my  posi 
tion  further  than  that  I  knew  there  would  be  a 
certain  amount  of  risk  from  the  rowdyism  and 
vanity  of  what  even  the  Americans  admit  to  be 
the  lower  orders,  for  which  I  had  been  prepared 
from  the  moment  I  had  despatched  my  letter ; 
but  I  confess  I  was  not  by  any  means  disposed 
to  think  that  the  leaders  of  public  opinion  would 
seek  the  small  gratification  of  revenge,  and  the 
petty  popularity  of  pandering  to  the  passions  of 
the  mob,  by  creating  a  popular  cry  against  me. 
I  am  not  aware  that  any  foreigner  ever  visited 
the  United  States  who  was  injudicious  enough  to 
write  one  single  word  derogatory  to  their  claims 
to  be  the  first  of  created  beings,  who  was  not  as 
sailed  with  the  most  viperous  malignity  and  ran 
cour.  The  man  who  says  he  has  detected  a  sin 
gle  spot  on  the  face  of  their  sun  should  prepare 
his  winding-sheet. 

The  New  York  Times,  I  find,  states  "that  the 
terrible  epistle  has  been  read  with  quite  as  much 
avidity  as  an  average  President's  message.  We 
scarcely  exaggerate  the  fact  when  we  say,  the 
first  and  foremost  thought  on  the  minds  of  a 
very  large  portion  of  our  people  after  the  repulse 
at  Bull's  Run  was,  what  will  Russell  say  ?"  and 
then  they  repeat  some  of  the  absurd  sayings  at 
tributed  to  me,  who  declared  openly  from  the 
very  first  that  I  had  not  seen  the  battle  at  all,  to 
the  effect  "that  I  had  never  seen  such  fighting 
in  all  my  life,  and  that  nothing  at  Alma  or  Ink- 


erman  was  equal  to  it."  An  analysis  of  the  let 
ter  follows,  in  which  it  is  admitted  that  "  with 
perfect  candour  I  purported  to  give  an  account 
of  what  I  saw,  and  not  of  the  action  which  I  did 
not  see;"  and  the  writer,  who  is,  if  I  mistake  not, 
the  Hon.  Mr.  Raymond,  of  the  New  York  Ti?nes, 
like  myself  a  witness  of  the  facts  I  describe, 
quotes  a  passage  in  which  I  say,  "  There  was  no 
flight  of  troops,  no  retreat  of  an  army,  no  reason 
for  all  this  precipitation,"  and  then  declares 
"that  my  letter  gives  a  very  spirited  and  per 
fectly  just  description  of  the  panic  which  impel 
led  and  accompanied  the  troops  from  Centreville 
to  Washington.  He  does  not,  for  he  cannot,  in 
the  least  exaggerate  its  horrible  disorder,  or  the 
disgraceful  behaviour  of  the  incompetent  officers 
by  whom  it  was  aided,  instead  of  being  checked, 
lie  saw  nothing  whatever  of  the  fighting,  and 
therefore  says  nothing  whatever  of  its  quality. 
He  gives  a  clear,  fair,  perfectly  just  and  accu 
rate,  as  it  is  a  spirited  and  graphic  account  of 
the  extraordinary  scenes  which  passed  under  his 
observation.  Discreditable  as  those  scenes  were 
to  our  army,  we  have  nothing  in  connection  with 
them  whereof  to  accuse  the  reporter ;  he  has 
done  justice  alike  to  himself,  his  subject,  and  the 
country." 

Ne  nobis  llandiar,  I  may  add,  that  at  least  I 
desired  to  do  so,  and  I  can  prove  from  Northern 
papers  that  if  their  accounts  were  true,  I  certain 
ly  much  "extenuated  and  naught  set  down  in 
malice" — nevertheless,  Philip  drunk  is  very  dif 
ferent  from  Philip  sober,  frightened,  and  running 
away,  and  the  man  who  attempts  to  justify  his 
version  to  the  inebriated  polycephalous  monarch 
is  sure  to  meet  such  treatment  as  inebriated  des 
pots  generally  award  to  their  censors. 

August  23rd. — The  torrent  is  swollen  to-day 
by  anonymous  letters  threatening  me  with  bowie- 
knife  and  revolver,  or  simply  abusive,  frantic 
with  hate,  and  full  of  obscure  warnings.  Some 
bear  the  Washington  post-mark;  others  came 
from  New  York ;  the  greater  number — for  I  have 
had  nine — are  from  Philadelphia.  Perhaps  they 
may  come  from  the  members  of  that  "gallant" 
4th  Pennsylvania  Regiment. 

August  2ith. — My  servant  came  in  this  morn 
ing  to  announce  a  trifling  accident — he  was  ex 
ercising  my  horse,  and  at  the  corner  of  one  of 
those  charming  street-crossings,  the  animal  fell 
and  broke  its  leg.  A  "vet"  was  sent  for.  I 
was  sure  that  such  a  portent  had  never  been 
born  in  those  Daunian  woods.  A  man  about 
twenty-seven  or  twenty-eight  stone  weight,  mid 
dle-aged  and  active,  with  a  fine  professional  feel 
ing  for  distressed  horse-flesh ;  and  I  was  right 
in  my  conjectures  that  he  was  a  Briton,  though 
the  vet  had  become  Americanised,  and  was  full 
of  enthusiasm  about  "our  war  for  the  Union," 
which  was  yielding  him  a  fine  harvest.  He 
complained  there  was  a  good  many  bad  charac 
ters  about  Washington.  The  matter  is  proved 
beyond  doubt  by  what  we  see,  hear,  and  read. 
To-day  there  is  an  account  in  the  papers  of  a 
brute  shooting  a  negro  boy  dead,  because  he 
asked  him  for  a  chew  of  tobacco.  Will  he  be 
hanged  ?  Not  the  smallest  chance  of  it.  The 
idea  of  hanging  a  white  man  for  killing  a  nig 
ger  !  It  is  more  preposterous  here  than  it  is  in 
India,  where  our  authorities  have  actually  exe 
cuted  whites  for  the  murder  of  natives. 

Before  dinner  I  walked  down  to  the  Washing- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


187 


ton  navy  yard.  Captain  Dahlgren  was  sorely 
perplexed  'with  an  intoxicated  Senator,  whose 
name  it  is  not  necessary  to  mention,  and  who 
seemed  to  think  he  paid  me  a  great  compliment 
by  expressing  his  repeated  desire  "to  have  a 
good  look  at"  me.  "I  guess  you're  quite  noto 
rious  now.  You'll  excuse  me  because  I've  dined, 
now — and  so  you  are  the  Mr.  &c.,  &c.,  &c."  The 
Senator  informed  me  that  he  was  "  none  of  your 

d d  blackfaced  republicans.  He  didn't  care 

a  d •  about  niggers — his  business  was  to  do 

good  to  his  fellow  white  men,  to  hold  our  glori 
ous  Union  together,  and  let  the  niggers  take  care 
of  themselves." 

I  was  glad  when  a  diversion  was  effected  by  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Fox,  Assistant-Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  and  Mr.  Blair,  Postmaster-General,  to  con 
sult  with  the  Captain,  who  is  greatly  looked  up  to 
by  all  the  members  of  the  Cabinet — in  fact  he  is 
rather  inconvenienced  by  the  perpetual  visits  of 
the  President,  who  is  animated  by  a  most  extraro- 
dinary  curiosity  about  naval  matters  and  machin 
ery,  and  is  attracted  by  the  novelty  of  the  whole 
department,  so  that  he  is  continually  running 
down  "  to  have  a  talk  with  Dahlgren"  when  he  is 
not  engaged  in  "  a  chat  with  George."  The  Sen 
ator  opened  such  a  smart  fire  on  the  Minister  that 
the  latter  retired,  and  I  mounted  and  rode  back 
to  town.  In  the  evening  Major  Clarence  Brown, 
Lieutenant  Wise,  a  lively,  pleasant,  and  amusing 
little  sailor,  well-known  in  the  States  as  the  au 
thor  of '"Los  Gringos,"  who  is  now  employed  in 
the  Navy  Department,  and  n  few  of  the  gentle 
man  connected  with  the  Foreign  Legations,  came 
in,  and  we  had  a  great  international  reunion  and 
discussion  till  a  late  hour.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  agreeable  banter  reserved  for  myself,  as  to  the 
exact  form  of  death  which  I  am  most  likely  to 
meet.  I  was  seriously  ad\*ised  by  a  friend  not 
to  stir  out  unarmed.  The  great  use  of  a  re 
volver  is  that  it  will  prevent  the  indignity  of 
tarring  and  feathering,  now  pretty  rife,  by  pro 
voking  greater  violence.  I  also  received  a  letter 
from  London,  advising  me  to  apply  to  Lord  Lv- 
ons  for  protection,  but  that  could  only  be  extend 
ed  to  me  within  the  walls  of  the  Legation. 

August  25th. — I  visited  the  Navy  Department, 
which  is  a  small  red-brick  building  two  stories 
high,  very  plain  and  even  humble.  The  subor 
dinate  departments  are  conducted  in  rooms  be 
low  stairs.  The  executive  are  lodged  in  the 
rooms  which  line  both  sides  of  the  corridor  above. 
The  walls  of  the  passage  are  lined  with  paint 
ings  in  oil  and  water  colours,  engravings  and 
paintings  in  the  worst  style  of  art.  To  the  lat 
ter  considerable  interest  attaches,  as  they  are 
authentic  likenesses  of  naval  officers  who  gained 
celebrity  in  the  wars  with  Great  Britain — men 
like  Perry,  M'Donough,  Decatur,  and  Hull,  who, 
as  the  Americans  boast,  was  "  the  first  man  who 
compelled  a  British  frigate  of  greater  force  than 
his  o\vn  to  strike  her  colours  in  fair  fight."  Paul 
Jones  was  not  to  be  seen,  but  a  drawing  is  proud 
ly  pointed  to  of  the  attack  of  the  American  fleet 
on  Algiers  as  a  proof  of  hatred  to  piracy,  and  of 
the  prominent  part  taken  by  the  young  States  in 
putting  an  end  to  it  in  Europe.  In  one  room 
are  several  swords,  surrendered  by  English  offi 
cers  in  the  single  frigate  engagements,  and  the 
duplicates  of  medals,  in  gold  and  silver,  voted  by 
Congress  to  the  victors.  In  Lieutenant  Wise's 
room  there  are  models  of  the  projectiles,  and  a 


series  of  shot  and  shell  used  in  the  navy,  or  de 
posited  by  inventors.  Among  other  relics  was 
the  flag  of  Captain  Ward's  boat,  just  brought  in, 
which  was  completely  riddled  by  the  bullet-marks 
received  in  the  ambuscade  in  which  that  officer 
was  killed,  with  nearly  all  of  his  boat's  crew,  as 
they  incautiously  approached  the  shore  of  the 
Potomac,  to  take  off  a  small  craft  placed  there 
to  decoy  them  by  the  Confederates.  My  busi 
ness  was  to  pave  the  way  for  a  passage  on  board 
a  steamer,  in  case  of  any  naval  expedition  start 
ing  before  the  army  was  ready  to  move,  but  all 
difficulties  were  at  once  removed  by  the  prompt 
itude  and  courtesy  of  Mr.  Fox,  the  Assistant- 
Secretary,  who  promised  to  give  me  an  order  for 
a  passage  whenever  I  required  it.  The  extreme 
civility  and  readiness  to  oblige  of  all  American 
officials,  high  and  low,  from  the  gate-keepers 
and  door-porters  up  to  the  heads  of  departments, 
cannot  be  too  highly  praised,  and  it  is  ungener 
ous  to  accept  the  explanation  offered  by  an  En 
glish  officer  to  whom  I  remarked  the  circum 
stance,  that  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that  each  man 
is  liable  to  be  turned  out  at  the  end  of  four  years, 
and  therefore  makes  all  the  friends  he  can. 

In  the  afternoon  I  rode  out  with  Captain  John 
son,  through  some  charming  woodland  scenery 
on  the  outskirts  of  Washington,  by  a  brawling 
stream,  in  a  shady  little  ravine,  that  put  me  in 
mind  of  the  Dargle.  Our  ride  led  us  into  the 
camps,  formed  on  the  west  of  Georgetown,  to 
cover  the  city  from  the  attacks  of  an  enemy  ad 
vancing  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Potomac,  and 
in  support  of  several  strong  forts  and  earthworks 
placed  on  the  heights.  One  regiment  consists 
altogether  of  Frenchmen — another  is  of  Ger 
mans — in  a  third  I  saw  an  officer  with  a  Crimean 
and  Indian  medal  on  his  breast,  and  several  pri 
vates  with  similar  decorations.  Some  of  the  reg 
iments  were  on  parade,  and  crowds  of  civilians 
from  Washington  were  enjoying  the  novel  scene, 
and  partaking  of  the  hospitality  of  their  friends. 
One  old  lady,  whom  I  have  always  seen  about 
the  camps,  and  who  is  a  sort  of  ancient  heroine 
of  Saragossa,  had  an  opportunity  of  being  useful. 
The  15th  Massachusetts,  a  fine-looking  body  of 
men,  had  broken  up  camp,  and  were  marching 
off  to  the  sound  of  their  own  voices  chanting 
"Old  John  Brown,"  when  one  of  the  enormous 
trains  of  baggage  waggons  attached  to  them  was 
carried  off  by  the  frightened  mules,  which  prob 
ably  had  belonged  to  Virginian  farmers,  and  one 
of  the  soldiers,  in  trying  to  stop  it,  was  dashed 
to  the  ground  and  severely  injured.  The  old 
lady  was  by  his  side  in  a  moment,  and  out  came 
her  flask  of  strong  waters,  bandages,  and  medi 
cal  comforts  and  apparatus.  "  It's  well  I'm 
here  for  this  poor  Union  soldier  ;  I'm  sure  I  al 
ways  have  something  to  do  in  these  camps."  On 
my  return  late,  there  was  a 
requesting  me  to  visit 

was  then  too  far  advanced^KtfrRl'myselfof  the 
invitation,  which  was  onB&luvered 'aTferl  left 
my  lodgings. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  tour  of  inspection  round  the  camp;*- A  -trout 
horse — M'Dowell  and  the  President — My  description  of 
Bull's  Run  endorsed  by  American  officers — Influence  of 
the  Press — Newspaper  correspondents — Dr.  Bray — My 
letters  —  Captain  Meagher  —  Military  adventurers  — 


188 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Probable  duration  of  the  war — Lord  A.  Vane  Tempest — 
The  American  journalist— Threats  of  assassination. 

August  26th. — General  Van  "Vliet  called  from 
General  M'Clellan  to  say  that  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  would  be  happy  to  go  round  the  camps 
with  me  when  he  next  made  an  inspection,  and 
would  send  round  an  orderly  and  charger  in  time 
to  get  ready  before  he  started.  These  little  ex 
cursions  are  not  the  most  agreeable  affairs  in  the 
world  ;  for  M'Clellan  delights  in  working  down 
staff  and  escort,  dashing  from  the  Chain  Bridge 
to  Alexandria,  and  visiting  all  the  posts,  riding 
as  hard  as  he  can,  and  not  returning  till  past 
midnight,  so  that  if  one  his  a  regard  for  his  cu 
ticle,  or  his  mail-days,  he  will  not  rashly  venture 
on  such  excursions.  To-day  he  is  to  inspect 
M'Dowell's  division. 

I  set  out  accordingly  with  Captain  Johnson 
over  the  Long  Bridge,  which  is  now  very  strictly 
guarded.  On  exhibiting  my  pass  to  the  sentry 
at  the  entrance,  he  called  across  to  the  sergeant 
and  spoke  to  him  aside,  showing  him  the  pass  at 
the  same  time.  "Are  you  Russell,  of  the  Lon 
don  Times  ?"  said  the  sergeant.  I  replied,  "  If 
you  look  at  the  pass,  you  will  see  who  I  am." 
He  turned  it  over,  examined  it  most  narrowly, 
and  at  last,  with  an  expression  of  infinite  dissat 
isfaction  and  anger  upon  his  face,  handed  it  back, 
saying  to  the  sentry,  "I  suppose  you  must  let 
him  go." 

Meantime  Captain  Johnson  was  witching  the 
world  with  feats  of  noble  horsemanship,  for  I  had 
lent  him  my  celebrated  horse  Walker,  so  called 
because  no  earthly  equestrian  can  induce  him  to 
do  anything  but  trot  violently,  gallop  at  full 
speed,  or  stand  on  his  hind  legs.  Captain  John 
son  laid  the  whole  fault  of  the  animal's  conduct 
to  my  mismanagement,  arnrnsiing  that  all  it  re 
quired  was  a  light  hand  and  gentleness,  and  so, 
as  he  could  display  both,  I  promised  to  let  him 
have  a  trial  to-day.  Walker,  on  starting,  how 
ever,  insisted  on  having  a  dance  to  himself,  which 
my  friend  attributed  to  the  excitement  produced 
by  the  presence  of  the  other  horse,  and  I  rode 
quietly  along  whilst  the  captain  proceeded  to  es 
tablish  an  acquaintance  with  his  steed  in  some 
quiet  bye -street.  As  I  was  crossing  the  Long 
Bridge,  the  forbidden  clatter  of  a  horse's  hoofs 
on  the  planks  caused  me  to  look  round,  and  on, 
in  a  cloud  of  dust,  through  the  midst  of  shout 
ing  sentries,  came  my  friend  of  the  gentle  hand 
and  unruffled  temper,  with  his  hat  thumped 
down  on  the  back  of  his  head,  his  eyes  gleaming, 
his  teeth  clenched,  his  fine  features  slightly  flush 
ed,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  sawing  violently  at 
Walker's'head,  and  exclaiming,  "You  brute!  I'll 
teach  you  to  walk!"  till  he  brought  up  by  the 
barrier  midway  on  the  bridge.  The  guard,  en 
masse,  called  the  captain's  attention  to  the  order, 
"All  horses  to  walk  over  the  bridge."  "Why, 
that's  what  I  want  him  to  do,  I'll  give  any  man 
among  you  one  hundred  dollars  who  can  make 
him  walk  along  this  bridge  or  anywhere  else." 
The  redoubtable  steed,  being  permitted  to  pro 
ceed  upon  its  way,  dashed  swiftly  through  the 
tete  de  pont,  or  stood  on  his  hind  legs  when  im 
peratively  arrested  by  a  barrier  or  abattis ;  and 
on  these  occasions  my  excellent  friend,  as  he  dis 
played  his  pass  in  one  hand  and  restrained  Bu 
cephalus  with  the  other,  reminded  me  of  nothing 
so  much  as  the  statue  of  Peter  the  Great,  in  the 
square  on  the  banks  of  the  Neva,  or  the  noble 


equestrian  monument  of  General  Jackson  which 
decorates  the  city  of  Washington.  The  troops 
of  M'DowelFs  division  were  already  drawn  up 
on  a  rugged  plain,  close  to  the  river's  margin, 
in  happier  days  the  scene  of  the  city  races.  A 
pestilential  odour  rose  from  the  slaughter-houses 
close  at  hand,  but,  regardless  of  odour  or  marsh, 
Walker  continued  his  violent  exercise,  evidently 
under  the  idea  that  he  was  assisting  at  a  retreat 
of  the  grand  army  as  before. 

Presently  General  M'Dowell  and  one  of  his 
aides  cantered  over,  and  whilst  waiting  for  Gen 
eral  M'Clellan,  he  talked  of  the  fierce  outburst 
directed  against  me  in  the  press.  "I  must  con 
fess,"  he  said,  laughingly,  "I  am  much  rejoiced 
to  find  you  are  as  much  abused  as  I  have  been. 
I  hope  you  mind  it  as  little  as  I  did.  Bull's  Run 
was  an  unfortunate  affair  for  both  of  us,  for  had 
I  won  it,  you  would  have  had  to  describe  the  pur 
suit  of  the  flying  enemy,  and  then  you  would 
have  been  the  most  popular  writer  in  America, 
and  I  would  have  been  lauded  as  the  greatest  of 
generals.  See  what  measure  has  been  meted, 
to  us  now.  I'm  accused  of  drunkenness  and 
gambling ;  and  you,  Mr.  Russell — well !  I  really 
do  hope  you  are  not  so  black  as  you  are  paint 
ed."  Presently  a  cloud  of  dust  on  the  road  an 
nounced  the  arrival  of  the  President,  who  came 
upon  the  ground  in  an  open  carriage,  with  Mr. 
Seward  by  his  side,  accompanied  by  General 
M'Clellan  and  his  staff  in  undress  uniform,  and 
an  escort  of  the  very  dirtiest  and  most  unsoldier- 
ly  dragoons,  with  filthy  accoutrements  and  un- 
groomed  horses,  I  ever  saw.  The  troops  dress 
ed  into  line  and  presented  arms,  whilst  the  band 
struck  up  the  "  Star-spangled  Banner,"  as  the 
Americans  have  got  no  tune  which  corresponds 
with  our  National  Anthem,  or  is  in  any  way 
complimentary  to  the  quadrennial  despot  who 
fills  the  President's  chair. 

General  M'Dowell  seems  on  most  excellent 
terms  with  the  present  Commander-in-Chief,  as 
he  is  with  the  President.  Immediately  after 
Bull's  Run,  when  the  President  first  saw  M'Dow 
ell,  he  said  to  him,  "I  have  not  lost  a  particle  of 
confidence  in  you,"  to  which  the  General  re 
plied,  "I  don't  see  why  you  should,  Mr.  Presi 
dent."  But  there  was  a  curious  commentary, 
either  on  the  sincerity  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  or  in  his 
utter  subserviency  to  mob  opinion,  in  the  fact 
that  he  who  can  overrule  Congress  and  act  pret 
ty  much  as  he  pleases  in  time  of  war,  had,  with 
out  opportunity  for  explanation  or  demand  for 
it,  at  once  displaced  the  man  in  whom  he  still 
retained  the  fullest  confidence,  degraded  him  to 
command  of  a  division  of  the  army  of  which  he 
had  been  General-in-Chief,  and  placed  a  junior 
officer  over  his  head. 

After  some  ordinary  movements,  the  march 
past  took  place,  which  satisfied  me  that  the  new 
levies  were  very  superior  to  the  three  months' 
men,  though  far,  indeed,  from  being  soldiers. 
Finer  material  could  not  be  found  in  physique. 
With  the  exception  of  an  assemblage  of  misera 
ble  scarecrows  in  rags  and  tatters,  swept  up  in 
New  York  and  commanded  by  a  Mr.  Kerrigan, 
no  division  of  the  ordinary  line,  in  any  army, 
could  show  a  greater  number  of  tall,  robust  men 
in  the  prime  of  life.  A  soldier  standing  near 
me,  pointing  out  Kerrigan's  corps,  said,  "The 
boy  who  commands  that  pretty  lot  recruited  them 
first  for  the  Seceshes  in  New  York,  but,  finding 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


189 


he  could  not  get  them  away,  he  handed  them 
over  to  Uncle  Sam."  The  men  were  silent  as 
they  marched  past,  and  did  not  cheer  for  Presi 
dent  or  Union. 

I  returned  from  the  field  to  Arlington  House, 
having  been  invited  with  my  friend  to  share  the 
general's  camp  dinner.  On  our  way  along  the 
road,  I  asked  Major  Brown  why  he  rode  over  to 
us  before  the  review  commenced.  "  Well,"  said 
he,  "my  attention  was  called  to  you  by  one  of  our 
staff  saying  'there  are  two  Englishmen,'  and  the 
general  sent  me  over  to  invite  them,  and  follow 
ed  when  he  saw  who  it  was."  "But  how  could 
you  tell  we  were  English?"  "I  don't  know," 
said  he  ;  "  there  were  other  civilians  about,  but 
there  was  something  about  the  look  of  you  two 
which  marked  you  immediately  as  John  Bull." 

At  the  general's  tent  we  found  General  Sher 
man,  General  Keyes,  Wadsworth,  and  some  oth 
ers.  Dinner  was  spread  on  a  table  covered  by 
the  flap  of  the  tent,  and  consisted  of  good  plain 
fare,  and  a  dessert  of  prodigious  watermelons. 
I  was  exceedingly  gratified  to  hear  every  officer 
present  declare  in  the  presence  of  the  general 
who  had  commanded  the  army,  and  who  him 
self  said  no  words  could  exaggerate  the  disorder 
of  the  route,  that  my  narrative  of  Bull's  Run  was 
not  only  true,  but1  moderate. 

General  Sherman,  whom  I  met  for  the  first 
time,  said,  "  Mr.  Russell,  I  can  endorse  every 
word  that  you  wrote ;  your  statements  about  the 
battle,  which  you  say  you  did  not  witness,  are 
equally  correct.  All  the  stories  about  charging 
batteries  and  attacks  with  the  bayonet  are  sim 
ply  falsehoods,  so  far  as  my  command  is  concern 
ed,  though  some  of  the  troops  did  fight  well.  As 
to  cavalry  charges,  I  wish  we  had  had  a  few  cav 
alry  to  have  tried  one ;  those  Black  Horse  fel 
lows  seemed  as  if  their  horses  ran  away  with 
them."  General  Keyes  said,  "  I  don't  think  you 
made  it  half  bad  enough.  I  could  not  get  the 
men  to  stand  after  they  had  received  the  first  se 
vere  check.  The  enemy  swept  the  open  with  a 
tremendous  musketry  fire.  Some  of  our  men 
and  portions  of  regiments  behaved  admirably: 
we  drove  them  easily  at  first ;  the  cavalry  did 
very  little  indeed ;  but  when  they  did  come  on  I 
could  not  get  the  infantry  to  stand,  and  after  a 
harmless  volley  tiny  broke."  These  officers  were 
brigadiers  of  Tyler's  division. 

The  conversation  turned  upon  the  influence 
of  the  press  in  America,  and  I  observed  that  ev 
ery  soldier  at  table  spoke  with  the  utmost  dislike 
and  antipathy  of  the  New  York  journals,  to  which 
they  gave  a  metropolitan  position,  although  each 
man  had  some  favourite  paper  of  his  own  which 
he  excepted  from  the  charge  made  against  the 
whole  body.  The  principal  accusations  made 
against  the  press  were  that  the  conductors  are 
not  gentlemen,  that  they  are  calumnious  and  cor 
rupt,  regardless  of  truth,  honour,  anything  but 
circulation  and  advertisements.  "It  is  the  first 
time  we  have  had  a  chance  of  dealing  with  these 
fellows,  and  we  shall  not  lose  it." 

I  returned  to  Washington  at  dusk  over  the 
aqueduct  bridge.  A  gentleman  who  introduced 
himself  to  me  as  correspondent  of  one  of  the 
cheap  London  papers,  sent  out  specially  on  ac 
count  of  his  great  experience  to  write  from  the 
States,  under  the  auspices  of  the  leaders  of  the 
advanced  liberal  party,  came  to  ask  if  I  had  seen 
an  article  in  the  Chicago  Tribune,  purporting  to 


be  written  by  a  gentleman  who  says  he  was  in 
my  company  during  the  retreat,  contradicting 
what  I  report.  I  was  advised  by  several  offi 
cers — whose  opinion  I  took — that  it  would  be 
derogatory  to  me  if  I  noticed  the  writer.  I  read 
it  over  carefully,  and  must  say  I  am  surprised — 
if  anything  could  surprise  me  in  American  jour 
nalism — at  the  impudence  and  mendacity  of  the 
man.  Having  first  stated  that  he  rode  along 
with  me  from  point  to  point  at  a  certain  portion 
of  the  road,  he  states  that  he  did  not  hear  or  see 
certain  things  which  I  say  that  I  saw  and  heard, 
or  deliberately  falsifies  what  passed,  for  the  sake 
of  a  little  ephemeral  applause,  quotations  in  the 
papers,  increased  importance  to  himself,  and 
some  more  abuse  of  the  English  correspondent. 

This  statement  made  me  recall  the  circum 
stance  alluded  to  more  particularly.  I  remem 
bered  well  the  flurried,  plethoric,  elderly  man, 
mounted  on  a  broken-down  horse,  who  rode  up 
to  me  in  great  trepidation,  with  sweat  streaming 
over  his  face,  and  asked  me  if  I  was  going  into 
Washington.  "You  may  not  recollect  me, sir ; 
I  was  introduced  to  you  at  Cay-roe,  in  the  hall 
of  the  hotel.  I'm  Dr.  Bray,  of  the  Chicago  Tri 
bune."  I  certainly  did  not  remember  him,  but  I 
did  recollect  that  a  dispatch  from  Cairo  appear 
ed  in  the  paper,  announcing  my  arrival  from  the 
South,  and  stating  I  complained  on  landing  that . 
my  letters  had  been  opened  in  the  States,  which 
was  quite  untrue  and  which  I  felt  called  on  to 
deny,  and  supposing  Dr.  Bray  to  be  the  author,  I 
was  not  at  all  inclined  to  cement  our  acquaint 
ance,  and  continued  my  course  with  a  bow. 

But  the  Doctor  whipped  his  steed  up  alongside 
mine,  and  went  on  to  tell  me  that  he  was  in  the 
most  terrible  bodily  pain  and  mental  anxiety. 
The  first  on  account  of  desuetude  of  equestrian 
exercise ;  the  other  on  account  of  the  defeat,  of 
the  Federals  and  the  probable  pursuit  of  the 
Confederates.  "  Oh  !  it's  dreadful  to  think  of! 
They  know  me  well,  and  would  show  me  no 
mercy.  Every  step  the  horse  takes  I'm  in  ag 
ony.  I'll  never  get  to  Washington.  Could  you 
stay  with  me,  sir?  as  you  know  the  road."  I 
was  moved  to  internal  chuckling,  at  any  rate,  by 
the  very  prostrate  condition  —  for  he  bent  well 
over  the  saddle — of  poor  Dr.  Bray,  and  so  I  said 
to  him,  "  Don't  be  uneasy,  sir.  There  is  no  fear 
of  your  being  taken.  The  army  is  not  defeated, 
in  spite  of  what  you  see ;  for  there  will  be  always 
runaways  and  skulkers  when  a  retreat  is  order 
ed.  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  M'Dowell  will 
stand  fast  at  Centreville,  and  rally  his  troops  to 
night  on  the  reserve,  so  as  to  be  in  a  good  posi 
tion  to  resist  the  enemy  to-morrow.  I'll  have  to 
push  on  to  Washington,  as  I  must  write  my  let 
ters,  and  I  fear  they  will  stop  me  on  the  bridge 
without  the  countersign,  particularly  if  these 
runaways  should  outstrip  us.  As  to  your  skin, 
pour  a  little  whiskey  on  some  melted  tallow  and 
rub  it  well  in,  and  you'll  be  all  right  to-morrow 
or  next  day,  as  far  as  that  is  concerned." 

I  actually,  out  of  compassion  to  his  sufferings 
— for  he  uttered  cries  now  and  then  as  though 
Lucina  were  in  request — reined  up,  and  walked 
my  horse,  though  most  anxious  to  get  out  of  the 
dust  and  confusion  of  the  runaways,  and  com- . 
forted  him  about  a  friend  whom  he  missed,  and 
for  whose  fate  he  was  as  uneasy  as  the  concern 
he  felt  for  his  own  woes  permitted  him  to  be ; 
suggested  various  modes  to  him  of  easing  the 


190 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


jolt  and  of  quickening  the  pace  of  his  steed,  and 
at  last,  really  bored  excessively  by  an  uninterest 
ing  and  self-absorbed  companion,  who  was  besides 
detaining,me  needlessly  on  the  road,  I  turned  on 
some  pretence  into  a  wood  by  the  side,  and  con 
tinued  my  way  as  well  as  I  could,  till  I  got  off 
the  track,  and,  being  guided  to  the  road  by  the 
dust  and  shouting,  I  came  out  on  it  somewhere 
near  Fairfax  Court,  and  there,  to  my  surprise, 
dropped  on  the  Doctor,  who,  animated  by  some 
agency  more  powerful  than  the  pangs  of  an 
abraded  cuticle,  and  taking  advantage  of  the 
road,  had  got  thus  far  ahead.  "We  entered  the 
place  together,  halted  at  the  same  inn  to  water 
our  horses,  and  then  seeing  that  it  was  getting  on 
towards  dusk,  and  that  the  wave  of  the  retreat 
was  rolling  onward  in  increased  volume,  I  push 
ed  on  and  saw  no  more  of  him.  Ungrateful 
Bray !  Perfidious  Bray !  Some  day,  when  I 
have  time,  I  must  tell  the  people  of  Chicago  how 
Bray  got  into  Washington,  and  how  he  left  his 
horse,  and  what  he  did  with  it,  and  how  Bray 
behaved  on  the  road.  I  dare  say  they  who  know 
him  can  guess. 

The  most  significant  article  I  have  seen  for 
some  time  as  a  test  of  the  taste,  tone,  and  temper 
of  the  New  York  public,  judging  by  their  most 
widely-read  journal,  is  contained  in  it  to-night. 
It  appears  that  a  gentleman  named  Muir,  who  is 
described  as  a  relative  of  Mr.  Mure,  the  consul 
at  New  Orleans,  was  seized  on  the  point  of  start 
ing  for  Europe,  and  that  among  his  papers,  many 
of  which  were  of  a  "disloyal  character,"  which 
is  not  astonishing,  seeing  that  he  came  from 
Charleston,  was  a  letter  written  by  a  foreign  res 
ident  in  that  city,  in  which  he  stated  he  had  seen 
a  letter  from  me  to  Mr.  Bunch  describing  the 
flight  at  Bull's  Run,  and  adding  that  Lord  Lyons 
remarked,  when  he  heard  of  it,  he  would  ask 
,Mr.  Seward  whether  he  would  not  now  admit 
the  Confederates  were  a  belligerent  power,  where 
upon  Maudit  calls  on  Mr.  Seward  to  demand 
explanations  from  Lord  Lyons,  and  to  turn  me 
out  of  the  country,  because  in  my  letter  to  the 
"Times"  I  made  the  remark  that  the  United 
States  would  probably  now  admit  the  South  were 
a  belligerent  power. 

Such  an  original  observation  could  never  have 
occurred  to  two  people — genius  concerting  with 
genius  could  alone  have  hammered  it  out.  But 
Maudit  is  not  satisfied  with  the  humiliation  of 
Lord  Lyons  and  the  expulsion  of  myself — he  ab 
solutely  insists  upon  a  miracle,  and  his  moral  vis 
ion  being  as  perverted  as  his  physical,  he  declares 
that  I  must  have  sent  to  the  British  Consul  at 
Charleston  a  duplicate  copy  of  the  letter  which 
I  furnished  with  so  much  labour  and  difficulty 
just  in  time  to  catch  the  mail  by  special  messen 
ger  from  Boston.  "These  be  thy  Gods,  O  Is 
rael  !" 

My  attention  was  also  directed  to  a  letter  from 
certain  officers  of  the  disbanded  69th  Regiment, 
who  had  permitted  their  Colonel  to  be  dragged 
away  a  prisoner  from  the  field  of  Bull's  Run. 
Without  having  read  my  letter,  these  gentlemen 
assumed  that  I  had  stigmatised  Captain  T.  F. 
Mcagher  as  one  who  had  misconducted  himself 
during  the  battle,  whereas  all  I  had  said  on  the 
evidence  of  eye-witnesses  was  "that  in  the  rout 
he  appeared  at  Centreville,  running  across  coun 
try,  and  uttering  exclamations  in  the  hearing  of 
my  informant,  which  indicated  that  he,  at  least, 


was  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  Confederates  had 
established  their  claims  to  be  considered  a  bel 
ligerent  power."  These  officers  state  that  Cap 
tain  Meagher  behaved  extremely  well  up  to  a 
certain  point  in  the  engagement,  when  they  lost 
sight  of  him,  and  from  which  period  they  could 
say  nothing  about  him.  It  was  subsequent  to 
that  very  time  he  appeared  at  Centreville ;  and 
long  before  my  letter  returned  to  America  giv 
ing  credit  to  Captain  Meagher  for  natural  gal 
lantry  in  the  field,  I  remarked  that  he  would  no 
doubt  feel  as  much  pained  as  any  of  his  friends 
at  the  ridicule  cast  upon  him  by  the  statement 
that  he,  the  Captain  of  a  company,  "went  into 
action  mounted  on  a  magnificent  charger,  and 
waving  a  green  silk  flag,  embroidered  with  a 
golden  harp,  in  the  face  of  the  enemy." 

A  young  man,  wearing  the  Indian  war  medal 
with  two  clasps,  who  said  his  name  was  Mac  Ivor 
Hilstock,  came  in  to  inquire  after  some  unknown 
friend  of  his.  He  told  me  he  had  been  in 
Tomb's  troop  of  Artillery  during  the  Indian 
mutiny,  and  had  afterwards  served  with  the 
French  volunteers  during  the  siege  of  Caprera. 
The  news  of  the  Civil  War  has  produced  such 
an  immigration  of  military  adventurers  from 
Europe  that  the  streets  of  Washington  are  quite 
filled  with  medals  and  ribands.  The  regular  of 
ficers  of  the  American  Army  regard  them  with 
considerable  dislike,  the  greater  inasmuch  as  Mr. 
Seward  and  the  politicians  encourage  them.  In 
alluding  to  the  circumstance  to  General  M 'Dow- 
ell,  who  came  in  to  see  me  at  a  late  dinner,  I 
said,  "A  great  many  Garibaldians  are  in  Wash 
ington  just  now."  "Oh,"  said  he,  in  his  quiet 
way,  "  it  will  be  quite  enough  for  a  man  to  prove 
that  he  once  saw  Garibaldi  to  satisfy  us  in  Wash 
ington  that  he  is  quite  fit  for  the  command  of  a 
regiment.  I  have  recommended  a  man  because 
he  sailed  in  the  ship  which  Garibaldi  came  in 
over  here,  and  I'm  sure  it  will  be  attended  to." 

Auqust  27 th. — Fever  and  ague,  which  General 
M'Dowell  attributes  to  watermelons,  of  which 
he,  however,  had  eaten  three  times  as  much  as 
I  had.  Swallowed  many  grains  of  quinine,  and 
lay  panting  in  the  heat  in -doors.  Two  English 
visitors,  Mr.  Lamy  and  a  Captain  of  the  1 7th, 
called  on  me ;  and,  afterwards,  I  had  a  con 
versation  with  M.  Mercier  and  M.  Stoeckl  on 
the  aspect  of  affairs.  They  are  inclined  to  look 
forward  to  a  more  speedy  solution  than  I  think 
the  North  is  weak  enough  to  accept.  I  believe 
that  peace  is  possible  in  two  years  or  so,  but  only 
by  the  concession  to  the  South  of  a  qualified  in 
dependence.  The  naval  operations  of  the  Fed 
erals  will  test  the  Southern  mettle  to  the  utmost. 
Having  a  sincere  regard  and  liking  for  many  of 
the  Southerners  whom  I  have  met,  I  cannot  say 
their  cause,  or  its  origin,  or  its  aim,  recommends 
itself  to  my  sympathies ;  and  yet  I  am  accused 
of  aiding  it  by  every  means  in  my  power,  because 
I  do  not  re-echo  the  arrogant  and  empty  boast 
ing  and  insolent  outbursts  of  the  people  in  the 
North,  who  threaten,  as  the  first-fruits  of  their 
success,  to  invade  the  territories  subject  to  the 
British  crown,  and  to  outrage  and  humiliate  our 
flag. 

It  is  melancholy  enough  to  see  this  great  re 
public  tumbling  to  pieces ;  one  would  regret  it 
all  the  more  but  for  the  fact  that  it  re-echoed  the 
voices  of  the  obscene  and  filthy  creatures  which 
have  been  driven  before  the  lash  of  the  lictor  from 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


191 


all  the  cities  of  Europe.  Assuredly  it  was  a  great 
work,  but  all  its  greatness  and  the  idea  of  its  life 
was  of  man,  not  of  God.  The  principle  of  ven 
eration,  of  obedience,  of  subordination,  and  self- 
control  did  not  exist  within.  Washington-wor 
ship  could  not  save  it.  The  elements  of  destruc 
tion  lay  equally  sized,  smooth,  and  black  at  its 
foundations,  and  a  spark  suffices  to  blow  the 
structure  into  the  air. 

August  28th. — Raining.  Sundry  officers  turn 
ed  in  to  inquire  of  me,  who  was  quietly  in  bed 
at  Washington,  concerning  certain  skirmishes 
reported  to  have  taken  place  last  night.  Sold 
one  horse  and  bought  another ;  that  is,  I  paid 
ready  money  in  the  latter  transaction,  and  in  the 
former  received  an  order  from  an  officer  on  the 
paymaster  of  his  regiment,  on  a  certain  day  not 
yet  arrived. 

To-day  Lord  A.  V.  Tempest  is  added  to  the 
number  of  English  arrivals ;  he  amused  me  by 
narrating  his  reception  at  Willard's  on  the  night 
of  his  arrival.  When  he  came  in  with  the  usual 
ruck  of  passengers,  he  took  his  turn  at  the  book, 
and  wrote  down  Lord  Adolphus  Vane  Tempest, 
with  possibly  M.P.  after  it.  The  clerk,  who  was 
busily  engaged  in  showing  that  he  was  perfectly 
indifferent  to  the  claims  of  the  crowd  who  were 
waiting  at  the  counter  for  their  rooms,  when  the 
book  was  finished,  commenced  looking  over  the 
names  of  the  various  persons,  such  as  Leonidas 
Buggs,  Rome,  N.Y. ;  Doctor  Onesiphorous  Bow- 
ells,  D.D.,  Syracuse;  Olynthus  Craggs,  Palmy 
ra,  Mo. ;  Washington  Whilkes,  Indianapolis, 
writing* down  the  numbers  of  the  rooms,  and 
handing  over  the  keys  to  the  waiters  at  the  same 
time.  When  he  came  to  the  name  of  the  En 
glish  nobleman,  he  said,  "  Vane  Tempest,  No. 
125."  "But  stop,  "cried  Lord  Adolphus.  "Ly- 
curgus  Siccles,"  continued  the  clerk,  "No.  23." 
"I  insist  upon  it,  sir,"  broke  in  Lord  Adolphus 
— "you  really  must  hear  me.  I  protest  against 
being  put  in  125,  I  can't  go  up  so  high." 
"Why,"  said  the  clerk,  with  infinite  contempt, 
"I  can  put  you  at  twice  as  high — I'll  give  you 
No.  250  if  I  like."  This  was  rather  too  much, 
and  Lord  Adolphus  put  his  things  into  a  cab, 
and  drove  about  Washington  until  he  got  to  earth 
in  the  two-pair  back  of  a  dentist's,  for  which,  no 
doubt,  tout  y«,  he  paid  as  much  as  for  an  apart 
ment  at  the  Hotel  Bristol. 

A  gathering  of  American  officers  and  others, 
amongst  whom  was  Mr.  Olmsted,  enabled  him 
to  form  some  idea  of  the  young  men's  society  of 
Washington,  which  is  a  strange  mixture  of  poli 
tics  and  fighting,  gossip,  gaiety,  and  a  certain 
apprehension  of  a  wrath  to  come  for  their  dear 
republic.  Here  is  Olmsted  prepared  to  lay  down 
his  life  for  free  speech  over  a  united  republic,  in 
one  part  of  which  his  freedom  of  speech  would 
lead  to  irretrievable  confusion  and  ruin  ;  Avhilst 
Wise,  on  the  other  hand,  seeks  only  to  establish 
a  union  which  shall  have  a  large  fleet,  be  power 
ful  at  sea,  and  be  able  to  smash  up  abolition 
ists,  newspaper  people,  and  political  agitators  at 
home. 

August  29tk. — It  is  hard  to  bear  such  a  fate  as 
befalls  an  unpopular  man  in  the  United  States, 
because  in  no  other  country,  as  De  Tocqueville* 
remarks,  is  the  press  so  powerful  when  it  is  unani 
mous.  And  yet  he  says,  too,  "The  journalist  of 
the  United  States  is  usually  placed  in  a  very 
*  P.  200,  Spencer's  American  edition,  New  York,  1858. 


humble  position,  with  a  scanty  education  and  a 
vulgar  turn  of  mind.  His  characteristics  consist 
of  an  open  and  coarse  appeal  to  the  passions  of 
the  populace,  and  he  habitually  abandons  the 
principles  of  political  science  to 'assail  the  char 
acters  of  individuals,  to  track  them  into  private 
life,  and  disclose  all  their  weaknesses  and  errors. 
The  individuals  who  are  already  in  possession 
of  a  high  station  in  the  esteem  of  their  fellow- 
citizens  are  afraid  to  write  in  the  newspapers, 
and  they  are  thus  deprived  of  the  most  powerful 
instrument  which  they  can  use  to  excite  the  pas 
sions  of  the  multitude  to  their  advantage.  The 
personal  opinions  of  the  editors  have  no  kind  of 
weight  in  the  eyes  of  the  public.  The  only  use 
of  a  journal  is,  that  it  imparts  the  knowledge  of 
certain  facts ;  and  it  is  only  by  altering  and  dis 
torting  those  facts  that  a  journalist  can  contrib 
ute  to  the  support  of  his  own  views."  When  the 
whole  of  the  press,  without  any  exception  in  so 
far  as  I  am  aware,  sets  deliberately  to  work,  in 
order  to  calumniate,  vilify,  insult,  and  abuse  a 
man  who  is  at  once  a  stranger,  a  rival,  and  an 
Englishman,  he  may  expect  but  one  result,  ac 
cording  to  De  Tocqueville. 

The  teeming  anonymous  letters  I  receive  are 
filled  with  threats  of  assassination,  tarring,  feath 
ering,  and  the  like ;  and  one  of  the  most  con 
spicuous  of  literary  sbirri  is  in  perfect  rapture  at 
the  notion  of  a  new  "  sensation"  heading,  for 
which  he  is  working  as  hard  as  he  can.  I  have 
no  intention  to  add  to  the  number  of  his  castiga- 
tions. 

In  the  afternoon  I  drove  to  the  waste  grounds 
beyond  the  Capitol,  in  company  with  Mr.  Olm 
sted  and  Captain  Haworth,  to  see  the  18th  Mas 
sachusetts  Regiment,  who  had  just  marched  in, 
and  were  pitching  their  tents  very  probably  for 
the  first  time.  They  arrived  from  their  state 
with  camp  equipments,  waggons,  horses,  harness, 
commissariat  stores  complete,  and  were  clad  in 
the  blue  uniform  of  the  United  States ;  for  the 
volunteer  fancies  in  greys  and  greens  are  dying 
out.  The  men  were  uncommonly  stout  young 
fellows,  with  an  odd,  slouching,  lounging  air 
about  some  of  them,  however,  which  I  could  not 
quite  understand  till  I  heard  one  sing  out,  "Hallo, 
sergeant,  where  am  I  to  sling  my  hammock  in 
this  tent?"  Many  of  them,  in  fact,  are  fisher 
men  and  sailors  from  Cape  Cod,  New  Haven, 
and  similar  maritime  places. 


CHAPTER  LV. 

Personal  unpopularity— American  naval  officers — A  gun 
levelled  at  me  in  fun — Increase  of  odium  against  me — 
Success  of  the  Hatteras  expedition — General  Scott  and 
M'Clellan — M'Clellan  on  his  camp-bed — General  Scott'a 

pass  refused— Prospect  of  an  attack  on  Washington 

Skirmishing— Anonymous  letters— General  Halleck — 
General  M'Clellan  and  the  Sabbath — Rumoured  death 
of  Jefferson  Davis — Spread  of  my  unpopularity— An  of 
fer  for  my  horse — Dinner  at  the  Legation— Discussion 
on  Slavery. 

August  31st. — A  month,  during  which  I  have 
been  exposed  to  more  calumny,  falsehood,  not  to 
speak  of  danger,  than  I  ever  passed  through, 
has  been  brought  to  a  close.  I  have  all  the 
pains  and  penalties  attached  to  the  digito  inon- 
strari  et  dicier  hie  est,  in  the  most  hostile  sense. 
On  goipg  into  Willard's  the  other  day.  I  said  to 
the  clerk  behind  the  bar,  "Why  I  heard,  Mr. 
So-and-so,  you  were  gone?"  "Well,  sir,  I'm 


192 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


not.  If  I  was,  you  would  have  lost  the  last  man 
who  is  ready  to  say  a  word  for  you  in  this  house, 
I  can  tell  you."  Scowling  faces  on  every  side — 
women  turning  up  their  pretty  little  noses — peo 
ple  turning  round  in  the  streets,  or  stopping  to 
stare  in  front  of  me — the  proprietors  of  the  shops 
where  I  am  known  pointing  me  out  to  others; 
the  words  uttered,  in  various  tones,  "So,  that's 
Bull -Run  Russell!"  — for,  oddly  enough,  the 
Americans  seem  to  think  that  a  disgrace  to  their 
arms  becomes  diminished  by  fixing  the  name  of 
the  scene  as  a  sobriquet  on  one  who  described  it 
— these,  with  caricatures,  endless  falsehoods,  ru 
mours  of  duels,  and  the  like,  form  some  of  the 
little  desagremens  of  one  who  was  so  unfortunate 
as  to  assist  at  the  retreat,  the  first  he  had  ever 
seen,  of  an  army  which  it  would  in  all  respects 
have  suited  him  much  better  to  have  seen  vic 
torious. 

I  dined  with  Lieutenant  Wise,  and  met  Cap 
tain  Dahlgren, 'Captain  Davis,  U.S.N.,  Captain 
Foote,  U.S.N.,  and  Colonel  Fletcher  Webster,* 
son  of  the  great  American  statesman,  now  com 
manding  a  regiment  of  volunteers.  The  latter 
has  a  fine  head  and  face ;  a  full,  deep  eye ;  is 
quaint  and  dry  in  his  conversation,  and  a  poet, 
I  should  think,  in  heart  and  soul,  if  outward  and 
visible  signs  may  be  relied  on.  The  naval  cap 
tains  were  excellent  specimens  of  the  accom 
plished  and  able  men  who  belong  to  the  United 
States  Navy.  Foote,  who  is  designated  to  the 
command  of  the  flotilla  which  is  to  clear  the 
Mississippi  downwards,  will,  I  am  certain,  do 
good  service — a  calm,  energetic,  skilful  officer. 
Dahlgren,  who,  like  all  men  with  a  system,  very 
properly  watches  everything  which  bears  upon  it, 
took  occasion  to  call  for  Captain  Foote's  testi 
mony  to  the  fact  that  he  battered  down  a  six- 
foot  granite  wall  in  China  with  Dahlgren  shells. 
It  will  run  hard  against  the  Confederates  when 
they  get  such  men  at  work  on  the  rivers  and 
coasts,  for  they  seem  to  understand  their  busi 
ness  thoroughly,  and  all  they  are  not  quite  sure 
of  is  the  readiness  of  the  land  forces  to  co-operate 
with  their  expeditionary  movements.  Incident 
ally  I  learned  from  the  conversation — and  it  is  a 
curious  illustration  of  the  power  of  the  Presi 
dent — that  it  was  he  who  ordered  the  attack  on 
Charleston  harbour,  or,  to  speak  with  more  ac 
curacy,  the  movement  of  the  armed  squadron  to 
relieve  Sumter  by  force,  if  necessary ;  and  that 
he  came  to  the  conclusion  it  was  feasible  princi 
pally  from  reading  the  account  of  the  attack  on 
Kinburn  by  the  allied  fleets.  There  was  cer 
tainly  an  immense  disproportion  between  the 
relative  means  of  attack  and  defence  in  the  two 
cases ;  but,  at  all  events,  the  action  of  the  Con 
federates  prevented  the  attempt. 

September  1st. — Took  a  ride  early  this  morn 
ing  over  the  Long  Bridge.  As  I  was  passing 
out  of  the  earthwork  called  a  fort  on  the  hill,  a 
dirty  German  soldier  called  out  from  the  para 
pet,  "Pull-Run  Russell!  you  shall  never  write 
Pull's  Runs  again,"  and  at  the  same  time  cocked 
his  piece,  and  levelled  it  at  me.  I  immediately 
rode  round  into  the  fort,  the  fellow  still  present 
ing  his  firelock,  and  asked  him  what  he  meant, 
at  the  same  time  calling  for  the  sergeant  of  the 
guard,  who  came  at  once,  and,  at  my  request, 
arrested  the  man,  who  recovered  arms,  and  said, 
"It  was  a  choake — I  vant  to  frecken  Full-Run 
*  Since  killed  in  action. 


Russell."  However,  as  his  rifle  was  capped  and 
loaded,  and  on  full  cock,  with  his  finger  on  the 
trigger,  I  did  not  quite  see  the  fun  of  it,  and  I 
accordingly  had  the  man  marched  to  the  tent  of 
the  officer,  who  promised  to  investigate  the  case, 
and  make  a  formal  report  of  it  to  the  brigadier, 
on  my  return  to  lay  the  circumstances  before 
him.  On  reflection  I  resolved  that  it  was  best 
to  let  the  matter  drop ;  the  joke  might  spread, 
and  it  was  quite  unpleasant  enough  as  it  was  to 
bear  the  insolent  looks  and  scowling  faces  of  the 
guards  at  the  posts,  to  whom  I  was  obliged  to 
exhibit  my  pass  whenever  I  went  out  to  ride. 

On  my  return  I  heard  of  the  complete  success 
of  the  Hatteras  expedition,  which  shelled  out  and 
destroyed  some  sand  batteries  guarding  the  en 
trance  to  the  great  inland  sea  and  navigation 
called  Pamlico  Sound,  in  North  Carolina,  fur 
nishing  access  to  coasters  for  many  miles  into 
the  Confederate  States,  and  most  useful  to  them 
in  forwarding  supplies  and  keeping  up  commu 
nications  throughout.  The  force  was  command 
ed  by  General  Butler,  who  has  come  to  Wash 
ington  with  the  news,  and  has  already  in  ado  his 
speech  to  the  mob  outside  WillardV.  I  called 
down  to  see  him,  but  he  had  gone  over  to  call 
on  the  President.  The  people  were  jubilant, 
and  one  might  have  supposed  Hatteras  was  the 
key  to  Richmond  or  Charleston,  from  the  way 
they  spoke  of  this  unparalleled  exploit. 

There  is  a  little  French  gentleman  here  against 
whom  the  fates  bear  heavily.  I  have  given  him 
employment  as  an  amanuensis  and  secretary  for 
some  time  back,  and  he  tells  me  many  things 
concerning  the  talk  in  the  city  which  I  do  not 
hear  myself,  from  which  it  would  seem  that  there 
is  an  increase  of  ill  feeling  towards  me  every 
day,  and  that  I  am  a  convenient  channel  for  con 
centrating  all  the  abuse  and  hatred  so  long  cher 
ished  against  England.  I  was  a  little  tickled  by 
an  account  he  gave  me  of  a  distinguished  lady, 
who  sent  for  him  to  give  French  lessons,  in  or 
der  that  she  might  become  equal  to  her  high  po 
sition  in  mastering  the  difficulties  of  the  courtly 
tongue.  I  may  mention  the  fact,  as  it  was  radi 
ated  by  the  press  through  all  the  land,  that  Mrs. 
M.  N.,  having  once  on  a  time  "been  proficient 
in  the  language,  has  forgotten  it  in  the  lapse  of 
years,  but  has  resolved  to  renew  her  studies,  that 
she  may  better  discharge  the  duties  of  her  ele 
vated  station."  The  master  went  to  the  house 
and  stated  his  terms  to  a  lady  whom  he  saw 
there  ;  but  as  she  marchanded  a  good  deal  over 
small  matters  of  cents,  he  never  supposed  he  was 
dealing  with  the  great  lady,  and  therefore  made 
a  small  reduction  in  his  terms,  which  encouraged 
the  enemy  to  renew  the  assault  till  he  stood  firm 
ly  on  three  shillings  a  lesson,  at  which  point  the 
lady  left  him,  with  the  intimation  that  she  would 
consider  the  matter  and  let  him  know.  And 
now,  the  licentiate  tells  me,  it  has  become  known 
he  is  my  private  secretary,  he  is  not  considered 
eligible  to  do  avoir  and  etre  for  the  satisfaction 
of  the  good  lady,  who  really  is  far  better  than 
her  friends  describe  her  to  be. 

September  2nd.  —  It  would  seem  as  if  the 
North  were  perfectly  destitute  of  common  sense. 
Here  they  are  as  rampant  because  they  have 
succeeded  with  an  overwhelming  fleet  in  shelling 
out  the  defenders  of  some  poor  unfinished  earth 
works,  on  a  spit  of  sand  on  the  coast  of  North 
Carolina,  as  if  they  had  already  crushed  the 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Southern  rebellion.     They  affect  to  consider  this 
achievement  a  counterpoise  to  Bull  Run. 

Surely  the  press  cannot  represent  the  feelings 
of  the  staid  and  thinking  masses  of  the  Northern 
States  !  The  success  is  unquestionably  useful  to 
the  Federalists,  but  it  no  more  adds  to  their 
chances  of  crushing  the  Confederacy,  than  shoot 
ing  oif  the  end  of  an  elephant's  tail  contributes 
to  the  hunter's  capture  of  the  animal. 

An  officious  little  person,  who  Avas  buzzing 
about  here  as  correspondent  of  a  London  news 
paper,  made  himself  agreeable  by  coming  with  a 
caricature  of  my  humble  self  at  the  battle  of 
Bull  Run,  in  a  laborious  and  most  unsuccessful 
imitation  of  Punch,  in  which  I  am  represented 
with  rather  a  flattering  face  and  figure,  seated 
before  a  huge  telescope,  surrounded  by  bottles 
of  London  stout,  and  looking  at  the  fight.  This 
is  supposed  to  be  very  humorous  and  amusing, 
and  my  good-natured  friend  was  rather  aston 
ished  when  I  cut  it  out  and  inserted  it  carefully  in 
a  scrap-book,  opposite  a  sketch  from  fancy  of  the 
N.  Y.  Fire  Zouaves  charging  a  battery  and  rout 
ing  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  which  appeared  last 
week  in  a  much  more  imaginative  and  amusing 
periodical,  which  aspires  to  describe  with  pen 
and  pencil  the  actual  current  events  of  the  war. 
Going  out  for  my  usual  ride  to-day,  I  saw 
General  Scott,  between  two  aides-de-camp,  slow 
ly  pacing  homewards  from  the  War  Office.  He 
is  still  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army,  and  af 
fects  to  direct  movements  and  to  control  the  dis 
position  of  the  troops,  but  a  power  greater  than 
his  increases  steadily  at  General  M'Clellan's 
head-quarters.  For  my  own  part,  I  confess  that 
General  M'Clellan  does*  not  appear  to  me  a  man 
of  action,  or,  at  least,  a  man  who  intends  to  act 
as  speedily  as  the  crisis  demands.  He  should 
be  out  with  his  army  across  the  Potomac,  living 
among  his  generals,  studying  the  composition 
of  his  army,  investigating  its  defects,  and,  above 
all,  showing  himself  to  the  men  as  soon  after 
wards  as  possible,  if  he  cannot  be  with  them  at 
the  time,  in  the  small  affairs  which  constantly 
occur  along  the  front,  and  never  permitting  them 
to  receive  a  blow  without  taking  care  that  they 
give  at  least  two  in  return.  General  Scott,  jaw 
fracta  membra  lahore,  would  do  all  the  work 
of  departments  and  superintendence  admirably 
well ;  but,  as  Montesquieu  taught  long  ago,  fac 
tion  and  intrigue  are  the  cancers  which  peculiar 
ly  eat  into  the  body  politic  of  republics,  and 
M'Clellan  fears,  no  doubt,  that  his  absence  from 
the  capital,  even  though  he  went  but  across  the 
river,  would  animate  his  enemies  to  undermine 
and  supplant  him. 

I  have  heard  several  people  say  lately,  "I 
wish  old  Scott  would  go  away,"  by  which  they 
mean  that  they  would  be  happy  to  strike  him 
down  when  his  back  was  turned,  but  feared  his 
personal  influence  with  the  President  and  his 
Cabinet.  Two  months  ago,  and  his  was  the  most 
honoured  name  in  the  States  :  one  was  sickened 
by  the  constant  repetition  of  elaborate  plans,  in 
which  the  General  was  represented  playing  the 
part  of  an  Indian  juggler,  and  holding  an  enor 
mous  boa  constrictor  of -a  Federal  army  in  his 
hands,  which  he  was  preparing  to  let  go  as  soon 
as  he  had  coiled  it  completely  round  the  fright 
ened  Secessionist  rabbit;  "now  none  so  poor  to 
do  him  reverence."  Hard  is  the  fate  of  those 
who  serve  republics.  The  officers  who  met  the 
N 


193 

old  man  in  the  street  to-day  passed  him  by  with 
out  a  salute  or  mark  of  recognition,  although  he 
wore  his  uniform  coat,  with  yellow  lapels  and 
yellow  sash ;  and  one  of  a  group  which  came 
out  of  a  restaurant  close  to  the  General's  house, 
exclaimed,  almost  in  his  hearing,  "  Old  fuss  and 
feathers  don't  look  first-rate  to-day." 

In  the  evening  I  went  with  a  Scotch  gentle 
man,  who  was  formerly  acquainted  with  General 
M'Clellan  when  he  was  superintendent  of  the 
Central  Illinois  Railway,  to  his  head-quarters, 
which  are  in  the  house  of  Captain  Wilkes,  at  the 
corner  of  President  Square,  near  Mr.  Seward's, 
and  not  far  from  the  spot  where  General  Sickles 
shot  down  the  unhappy  man  who  had  tempora 
rily  disturbed  the  peace  of  his  domestic  relations. 
The  parlours  were  full  of  officers  smoking,  read 
ing  the  papers,  and  writing,  and  after  a  short 
conversation  with  General  Marcy,  Chief  of  the 
Staff,  Van  Vlict,  aide-de-camp  of  the  Command- 
er-in-Chief,  led  the  way  up-stairs  to  the  top  of 
the  house,  where  we  found  General  M'Clellan, 
just  returned  from  a  long  ride,  and  seated  in  his 
shirt  sleeves  on  the  side  of  his  camp-bed.  Ho 
looked  better  than  I  have  yet  seen  him,  for  his 
dress  showed  to  advantage  the  powerful,  com 
pact  formation  of  his  figure,  massive  throat,  well- 
set  head,  and  muscular  energy  of  his  frame. 
Nothing  could  be  more  agreeable  or  easy  than 
his  manner.  In  his  clear,  dark-blue  eye  was  no 
trace  of  uneasiness  or  hidden  purpose  ;  but  his 
mouth,  covered  by  a  short,  thick  moustache, 
rarely  joins  in  the  smile  that  overspreads  his 
face  when  he  is  animated  by  telling  or  hearing 
some  matter  of  interest.  Telegraph  wires  ran  all 
about  the  house,  and  as  we  sat  round  the  Gen 
eral's  table,  despatches  were  repeatedly  brought, 
in  from  the  Generals  in  the  front.  Sometimes 
M'Clellan  laid  down  his  cigar  and  went  off  to 
study  a  large  map  of  the  position,  which  was 
fixed  to  the  wall  close  to  the  head  of  his  bed  ; 
but  more  frequently  the  contents  of  the  despatch 
es  caused  him  to  smile  or  to  utter  some  exclama 
tion,  which  gave  one  an  idea  that  he  did  not  at 
tach  much  importance  to  the  news,  and  had  not 
great  faith  in  the  reports  received  from  his  sub 
ordinate  officers,  who  are  always  under  the  im 
pression  that  the  enemy  are  coming  on  in  force. 

It  is  plain  the  General  has  got  no  high  opin 
ion  of  volunteer  officers  and  soldiers.  In  addi 
tion  to  unsteadiness  in  action,  which  arises  from 
want  of  confidence  in  the  officers  as  much  as 
from  any  other  cause,  the  men  labour  under  the 
great  defect  of  exceeding  rashness,  a  contempt 
for  the  most  ordinary  precautions,  and  a  liabili 
ty  to  unaccountable  alarms  and  credulousness 
of  false  report ;  but,  admitting  all  these  circum 
stances,  M'Clellan  has  a  soldier's  faith  in  gros 
bataillons,  and  sees  no  doubt  of  ultimate  success 
in  a  military  point  of  view,  provided  the  politi 
cians  keep  quiet,  and,  charming  men  as  they  are, 
cease  to  meddle  with  things  they  don't  under 
stand.  Although  some  very  good  officers  have 
deserted  the  United  States  army  and  are  now 
with  the  Confederates,  a  very  considerable  ma 
jority  of  West  Point  officers  have  adhered  to  the 
Federals.  I  am  satisfied,  by  an  actual  inspec 
tion  of  the  lists,  that  the  Northerners  retain  the 
same  preponderance  in  officers  who  have  received 
a  military  education,  as  they  possess  in  .wealth 
and  other  means,  and  resources  for  carrying  on 
the  war. 


194: 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


The  General  consumes  tobacco  largely,  and 
not  only  smokes  cigars,  but  indulges  in  the  more 
naked  beauties  of  a  quid.  From  tobacco  we 
wandered  to  the  Crimea,  and  thence  went  half 
round  the  world,  till  we  halted  before  the  Vir 
ginian  watch-fires,  which  these  good  volunteers 
will  insist  on  lighting  under  the  very  noses  of 
the  enemy's  pickets ;  nor  was  it  till  late  we  re 
tired,  leaving  the  General  to  his  well-earned  re 
pose. 

General  M'Clellan  took  the  situation  of  affairs 
in  a  very  easy  and  philosophical  spirit.  Accord 
ing  to  his  own  map  and  showing,  the  enemy  not 
only  overlapped  his  lines  from  the  batteries  by 
which  they  blockaded  the  Potomac  on  the  right, 
to  their  extreme  left  on  the  river  above  Wash 
ington,  but  have  established  themselves  in  a  kind 
of  salient  angle  on  his  front,  at  a  place  called 
Munson's  Hill,  where  their  flag  waved  from  en 
trenchments  within  sight  of  the  Capitol.  How 
ever,  from  an  observation  he  made,  I  imagined 
that  the  General  would  make  an  effort  to  recover 
his  lost  ground ;  at  any  rate,  beat  up  the  enemy's 
quarters,  in  order  to  see  what  they  were  doing ; 
and  he  promised  to  send  an  orderly  round  and 
let  me  know ;  so,  before  I  retired,  1  gave  orders 
to  my  groom  to  have  "Walker"  in  readiness. 

September  3rd. — Notwithstanding  the  extreme 
heat,  I  went  out  early  this  morning  to  the  Chain 
Bridge,  from  which  the  reconnoissance*  hinted 
at  last  night  would  necessarily  start.  This  bridge 
is  about  four  and  a  half  or  five  miles  above  Wash 
ington,  and  crosses  the  river  at  a  picturesque 
spot  almost  deserving  the  name  of  a  gorge,  with 
high  banks  on  both  sides.  It  is  a  light  aerial 
structure,  and  spans  the  river  by  broad  arches, 
from  which  the  view  reminds  one  of  Highland 
or  Tyrolean  scenery.  The  road  from  the  city 
passes  through  a  squalid  settlement  of  European 
squatters,  who  in  habitation,  dress,  appearance, 
and  possibly  civilisation,  are  quite  as  bad  as  any 
negroes  on  any  Southern  plantation  I  have  vis 
ited.  The  camps  of  a  division  lie  just  beyond, 
and  a  gawky  sentry  from  New  England,  with 
whom  1  had  some  conversation,  amused  me  by 
saying  that  the  Colonel  "was  a  darned  deal 
more  affeerd  of  the  Irish  squatters  taking  off  his 
poultry  at  night  than  he  was  of  the  Secessioners ; 
anyways,  he  puts  out  more  sentries  to  guard  them 
than  he  has  to  look  after  the  others." 

From  the  Chain  Bridge  I  went  some  distance 
towards  Falls  Church,  until  I  was  stopped  by  a 
picket,  the  officer  of  which  refused  to  recognise 
General  Scott's  pass.  "I  guess  the  General's 
a  dead  man,  sir."  "Is  he  not  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  United  States  army?"  "Well,  I 
believe  that's  a  fact,  sir ;  but  you  had  better 
argue  that  point  with  M'Clellan.  lie  is  our 
boy,  and  I  do  believe  he'd  like  to  let  the  London 
Times  know  how  we  Green  Mountain  boys  can 
fight,  if  they  don't  know  already.  But  all  passes 
are  stopped  anyhow,  and  I  had  to  turn  back  a 
Congress-man  this  very  morning,  and  lucky  for 
him  it  was,  because  the  Seceshers  are  just  half 
a  mile  in  front  of  us."  On  my  way  back  by  the 
upper  road  I  passed  a  farmer's  house,  which  was 
occupied  by  some  Federal  officers,  and  there, 
seated  in  the  verandah,  with  his  legs  cocked  over 
the  railings,  was  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  a  felt  hat,  and 
a,  loose  grey  shooting  coat  and  long  vest,  "let 
ting  off,"  as  the  papers  say,  one  of  his  jokes,  to 
judge  by  his  attitude  and  the  laughter  of  the 


officers  around  him,  utterly  indifferent  to  the 
Confederate  flag  floating  from  Munson's  Hill. 

Just  before  midnight  a  considerable  movement 
of  troops  took  place  through  the  streets,  and  I 
was  about  starting  off'  to  ascertain  the  cause, 
when  I  received  the  information  that  General 
M'Clellan  was  only  sending  off  two  brigades  and 
four  batteries  to  the  Chain  Bridge  to  strengthen 
his  right,  which  was  menaced  by  the  enemy.  I 
retired  to  bed,  in  order  to  be  ready  for  any  bat 
tle  which  might  take  place  to-morrow,  but  was 
roused  up  by  voices  beneath  my  window,  and 
going  out  on  the  verandah,  could  not  help  chuck 
ling  at  the  appearance  of  three  foreign  ministers 
and  a  banker,  in  the  street  below,  who  had  come 
round  to  inquire,  in  some  perturbation,  the  cause 
of  the  nocturnal  movement  of  men  and  guns,  and 
seemed  little  inclined  to  credit  my  assurances 
that  nothing  more  serious  than  a  reconnaissance 
was  contemplated.  The  ministers  were  in  high 
spirits  at  the  prospect  of  an  attack  on  Washing 
ton.  Such  agreeable  people  are  the  governing 
party  of  the  United  States  at  present,  that  there 
is  only  one  representative  of  a  foreign  power 
here  who  would  hot  like  to  see  them  flying  be 
fore  Southern  bayonets.  The  banker,  perhaps, 
would  have  liked  a  little  time  to  set  his  affairs 
in  order.  "  When  will  the  sacking  begin  ?"  cried 
the  ministers.  "We  must  hoist  our  flags." 
"The  Confederates  respect  private  property,  I 
suppose  ?"  As  to  flags,  be  it  remarked  that  Lord 
Lyons  has  none  to  display,  having  lent  his  to 
Mr.  Seward,  who  required  it  for  some  festive 
d  e  m  on  str  at  ion . 

September  4th.  —  I  rode  over  to  the  Chain 
Bridge  again  with  Captain  Haworth  this  morn 
ing  at  seven  o'clock,  on  the  chance  of  there  be 
ing  a  big  fight,  as  the  Americans  say ;  but  there 
was  only  some  slight  skirmishing  going  on; 
dropping  shots  now  and  then.  Walker,  excited 
by  the  reminiscences  of  Bull  Run  noises,  per 
formed  most  remarkable  feats,  one  Of  the  most 
frequent  of  which  was  turning  right  round  when 
at  full  trot  or  canter,  and  then  kicking  violently. 
He  also  gallopped  in  a  most  lively  way  down  a 
road  which  in  winter  is  the  bed  of  a  torrent,  and 
jumped  along  among  the  boulders  and  stones 
in  an  agile,  cat-like  manner,  to  the  great  delec 
tation  of  my  companion. 

The  morning  was  intensely  hot,  so  I  was  by  no 
means  indisposed  to  get  back  to  cover  again. 
Nothing  would  persuade  people  there  was  not 
serious  fighting  somewhere  or  other.  I  went 
down  to  the  Long  Bridge,  and  was  stopped  by 
the  sentry,  so  I  produced  General  Scott's  pass, 
which  I  kept  always  as  a  dernier  ressort,  but  the 
officer  on  duty  here  also  refused  it,  as  passes 
were  suspended.  I  returned  and  referred  the 
matter  to  Colonel  Cullum,  who  consulted  Gen- 
errl  Scott,  and  informed  me  that  the  pass  must 
be  considered  as  perfectly  valid,  not  having  been 
revoked  by  the  General,  who,  as  Lieutcnant-Gen- 
eral  commanding  the  United  States  army,  was 
senior  to  every  other  officer,  and  could  only  have 
his  pass  revoked  by  the  President  himself.  Now 
it  was  quite  plain  that  it  would  do  me  no  good 
to  have  an  altercation  with  the  sentries  at  every 
post  in  order  to  have  the  satisfaction  of  report 
ing  the  matter  to  General  Scott.  I  therefore 
procured  a  letter  from  Colonel  Cullum,  stating, 
in  writing,  what  he  said  in  words,  and  with  that 
and  the  pass  went  to  General  M'Clellan's  head- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


195 


quarters,  where  I  was  told  by  his  aides  the  Gen 
eral  was  engaged  in  a  kind  of  council  of  war.  I 
sent  up  my  papers,  and  Major  Hudson,  of  his 
staff,  came  down  after  a  short  time,  and  said  that 
"General  M'Clellan  thought  it  would  be  much 
better  if  General  Scott  had  given  me  a  new  spe 
cial  pass ;  but  as  General  Scott  had  thought  fit  to 
take  the  present  course  on  his  own  responsibili 
ty,  General  M'Clellan  could  not  interfere  in  the 
matter ;"  whence  it  may  be  inferred  there  is  no 
very  pleasant  feeling  .between  head-quarters  of 
•  the  army  of  the  Potomac  and  head-quarters  of 
the  army  of  the  United  States. 

I  went  on  to  the  Navy  yard,  where  a  look-out 
man,  who  can  command  the  whole  of  the  coun 
try  to  Munson's  Hill,  is  stationed,  and  I  heard 
from  Captain  Dahlgren  that  there  was  no  fight 
ing  whatever.  There  were  columns  of  smoke 
visible  from  Capitol  Hill,  which  the  excited 
spectators  declared  were  caused  by  artillery  and 
musketry,  but  my  glass  resolved  them  into  ema 
nations  from  a  vast  extent  of  hanging  wood  and 
brush  which  the  Federals  were  burning  in  order 
to  clear  their  front.  However,  people  were  so 
positive  as  to  hearing  cannonades  and  volleys  of 
musketry,  that  wo  went  out  to  the  reservoir  hill 
at  Georgetown,  and,  gazing  over  the  debateable 
land  of  Virginia — which,  by  the  way,  is  very 
beautiful  these  summer  sunsets — became  thor 
oughly  satisfied  of  the  delusion.  Met  Van  Vliet 
as  I  was  returning,  who  had  just  seen  the  reports 
at  head-quarters,  and  averred  there  was  no  fight 
ing  whatever.  My  landlord  had  a  very  differ 
ent  story.  His  friend,  an  hospital  steward, ' '  had 
seen  ninety  wounded  men  carried  into  one  ward 
from  over  the  river,  and  believed  the  Federals 
had  lost  1000  killed  and  wounded  and  twenty- 
five  guns." 

Sept.  5th. — Raining  all  day.  M'Clellan  aban 
doned  his  intention  of  inspecting  the  lines,  and 
I  remained  in,  writing.  The  anonymous  letters 
still  continue.  Received  one  from  an  unmistake- 
abla  Thug  to-day,  with  the  death's-head,  cross- 
bi>ii'?s,  and  coffin,  in  the  most  orthodox  style  of 
national-school  drawing. 

The  event  of  the  day  wras  the  appearance  of 
the  President  in  the  Avenue  in  a  suit  of  black, 
and  a  parcel  in  his  hand,  walking  umbrella-less 
in  the  rain.  Mrs.  Lincoln  has  returned,  and  the 
worthy  "Executive"  will  no  longer  be  obliged 
to  go  "browsing  round,"  as  he  says,  among  his 
friends  at  dinner-time.  He  is  working  away  at 
money  matters  with  energy,  but  has  been  much 
disturbed  in  his  course  of  studies  by  General  Fre 
mont's  sudden  outburst  in  the  West,  which  pro 
claims  emancipation,  and  draws  out  the  arrow 
which  the  President  intended  to  discharge  from 
his  own  bow. 

Sept.  Qth.  —  At  3.30  P.M.  General  M'Clellan 
sent  over  an  orderly  to  say  he  was  going  across 
the  river,  and  would  be  g'lad  of  my  company ; 
but  I  was  just  finishing  my  letters  for  England, 
and  had  to  excuse  myself  for  the  moment ;  and 
when  I  was  ready,  the  General  and  staff  had  gone 
venire  a  terre  into  Virginia.  After  post,  paid  my 
respects  to  General  Sco,tt,  who  is  about  to  retire 
from  the  command  on  his  full-pay  of  about  £3500 
per  annum,  which  is  awarded  to  him  on  account 
of  his  long  services. 

A  new  Major-General —  Halleck  —  has  been 
picked  up  in  California,  and  is  highly  praised  by 
General  Scott  and  by  Col  >ncl  Cullum,  with  whom 


I  had  a  long  talk  about  the  officers  on  both  sides. 
Halleck  is  a  West  Po'int  officer,  and  has  pub 
lished  some  works  on  military  science  which  are 
highly  esteemed  in  the  States.  Before  Califor 
nia  became  a  State,  he  was  secretary  to  the  gov 
ernor  or  officer  commanding  the  territory,  and 
eventually  left  the  service  and  became  a  lawyer 
in  the  district,  where  he  has  amassed  a  large  • 
fortune.  He  is  a  man  of  great  ability,  very 
calm,  practical,  earnest,  and  cold,  devoted  to  the 
Union — a  soldier,  and  something  more.  Lee  is 
considered  the  ablest  man  on  the  Federal  side, 
but  he  is  slow  and  timid.  "Joe"  Johnson  is 
their  best  strategist.  Beauregard  is  nobody  and 
nothing — so  think  they  at  head-quarters.  All 
of  them  together  are  not  equal  to  Halleck,  who 
is  to  be  employed  in  the  West. 

I  dined  at  the  Legation,  where  were  the  Rus 
sian  Minister,  the  Secretary  of  the  French  Lega 
tion,  the  representative  of  New  Granada,  and  oth 
ers.  As  I  was  'anxious  to  explain  to  General 
M'Clellan  the  reason  of  my  inability  to  go  out 
•with  him,  I  called  at  his  quarters  about  eleven 
o'clock,  and  found  he  had  just  returned  from  his 
ride.  He  received  me  in  his  shirt,  in  his  bed 
room  at  the  top  of  the  house ;  introduced  me  to 
General  Burnside — a  soldierly,  intelligent-look 
ing  man,  with  a  very  lofty  forehead,  and  uncom 
monly  bright  dark  eyes ;  and  we  had  some  con 
versation  about  matters  of  ordinary  interest  for 
some  time,  till  General  M'Clellan  called  me  into 
an  ante-chamber,  where  an  officer  was  writing  a 
despatch,  which  he  handed  to  the  General.  "  I 
wish  to  ask  your  opinion  as  to  the  wording  of 
this  order.  It  is  a  matter  of  importance.  I  see 
that  the  men  of  this  army,  Mr.  Russell,  disregard 
the  Sabbath,  and  neglect  the  worship  of  God ; 
and  I  am  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  such  neglect, 
as  far  as  I  can.  I  have,  therefore,  directed  the 
following  order  to  be  drawn  up,  which  will  be 
promulgated  to-morrow."  The  General  spoke 
with  much  earnestness,  and  with  an  air  which 
satisfied  me  of  his  sincerity.  The  officer  in  wait 
ing  read  the  order,  in  which,  at  the  General's  re 
quest,  I  suggested  a  few  alterations.  The  Gen 
eral  told  me  he  had  received  "sure  information 
that  Beauregard  has  packed  up  all  his  baggage, 
struck  his  tents,  and  is  evidently  preparing  for  a 
movement,  so  you  may  be  wanted  at  a  moment's 
notice."  General  Burnside  returned  to  my  rooms, 
in  company  with  Mr.  Lamy,  and  we  sat  up,  dis 
coursing  of  Bull's  Run,  in  which  his  brigade  was 
the  first  engaged  in  front.  He  spoke  like  a  man 
of  sense  and  a  soldier  of  the  action,  and  stood 
up  for  the  conduct  of  some  regiments,  though  he 
could  not  palliate  the  final  disorder.  The  pa 
pers  circulate  rumours  of  "Jeff.  Davis's  death;" 
nay,  accounts  of  his  burial.  The  public  does  not 
believe,  but  buys  all  the  same. 

Sept.  1th. — Yes ;  "Jeff.  Davis  must  be  dead." 
There  are  some  touching  lamentations  in  the 
obituary  notices  over  his  fate  in  the  other  world. 
Meanwhile,  however,  his  spirit  seems  quite  alive; 
for  there  is  an  absolute  certainty  that  the  Con 
federates  are  coming  to  attack  the  Capitol. 
Lieut.  A.  Wise  and  Lord  A.  Vane  Tempest  ar 
gued  the  question  whether  the  assault  would  be 
made  by  a  flank  movement  above  or  direct  in 
front ;  and  Wise  maintained  the  latter  thesis  with 
vigour  not  disproportioned  to  the  energy  with 
which  his  opponent  demonstrated  that  the  Con 
federates  could  not  be  such  madmen  as  to  march 


196 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


up  to  the  Federal  batteries.  There  is  actually 
"a  battle"  raging  (in  the  front  of  the  Philadelphia 
newspaper  offices)  this  instant — Populus  vult  de- 
dpi — dedpiatur. 

Sept.  8</l. — Rode  over  to  Arlington  House. 
Went  round  by  Aqueduct  Bridge,  Georgetown, 
and  out  across  Chain  Bridge  to  Brigadier  Smith's 
head-quarters,  which  are  established  in  a  com 
fortable  house  belonging  to  a  Secessionist  farm 
er.  The  General  belongs  to  the  regular  army, 
and,  if  one  can  judge  from  externals,  is  a  good 
officer.  A  libation  of  Bourbon  and  water  was 
poured  out  to  friendship,  and  we  rode  out  with 
Captain  Poe,  of  the  Topographical  Engineers,  a 
hard-working,  eager  fellow,  to  examine  the  trench 
which  the  men  were  engaged  in  throwing  up  to 
defend  the  position  they  have  just  occupied  on 
some  high  knolls,  now  cleared  of  wood,  and  over 
looking  ravines  which  stretch  towards  Falls 
Church  and  Vienna.  Everything  about  the 
camp  looked  like  fighting :  Napoleon  guns  plant 
ed  on  the  road ;  Griffin's  battery  in  a  field  near 
at  hand;  mountain  howitzers  unlimbered;  strong 
pickets  and  main  guards ;  the  five  thousand  men 
all  kept  close  to  their  camps,  and  two  regiments, 
in  spite  of  M'Clellan's  order,  engaged  on  the 
trenches,  which  were  already  mounted  with  field- 
guns/  General  Smith,  like  most  officers,  is  a 
Democrat  and  strong  anti- Abolitionist,  and  it  is 
not  too  much  to  suppose  he  would  fight  any 
rather  than  Virginians.  As  we  were  riding 
about,  it  got  out  among  the  men  that  I  was  pres 
ent,  and  I  was  regarded  with  no  small  curiosity, 
staring,  and  some  angry  looks.  The  men  do 
not  know  what  to  make  of  it  when  they  see  their 
officers  in  the  company  of  one  whom  they  are 
reading  about  in  the  papers  as  the  most  &c.  &c. 
fche  world  ever  saw.  And,  indeed,  I  know  well 
enough,  so  great  is  their  passion  and  so  easily 
are  they  misled,  that  without  such  safeguard  the 
men  would  in  all  probability  carry  out  the  sug 
gestions  of  one  of  their  particular  guides,  who 
has  undergone  so  many  cuffings  that  he  rather 
likes  them.  Am  I  not  the  cause  of  the  disaster 
at  Bull's  Run  ? 

Going  home,  I  met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  in 
their  new  open  carriage.  The  President  was 
not  so  good-humoured,  nor  Mrs.  Lincoln  so  affa 
ble,  in  their  return  to  my  salutation  as  usual.  My 
unpopularity  is  certainly  spreading  upwards  and 
downwards  at  the  same  time,  and  all  because  I 
could  not  turn  the  battle  of  Bull's  Run  into  a 
Federal  victory,  because  I  would  not  pander  to 
tfie  vanity  of  the  people,  and,  least  of  all,  because 
I  will  not  bow  my  knee  to  the  degraded  creatures 
who  have  made  the  very  name  of  a  free  press 
odious  to  honourable  men.  Many  of  the  most 
foul-mouthed  and  rabid  of  the  men  who  revile 
me  because  I  have  said  the  Union  as  it  was  nev 
er  can  be  restored,  are  as  fully  satisfied  of  the 
truth  of  that  statement  as  I  am.  They  have 
written  far  severer  things  of  their  army  than  I 
have  ever  done.  They  have  slandered  their  sol 
diers  and  their  officers  as  I  have  never  done. 
They  have  fed  the  worst  passions  of  a  morbid 
democracy  till  it  can  neither  see  nor  hear ;  but 
they  shall  never  have  the  satisfaction  of  either 
driving  me  from  my  post,  or  inducing  me  to  de 
viate  a  hair's-breadth  from  the  course  I  have  re 
solved  to  pursue,  as  I  have  done  before  in  other 
cases  —  greater  and  gravel*,  as  far  as  I  was  con 
cerned,  than  this. 


Sept.  9th. — This  morning,  as  I  was  making 
the  most  of  my  toilet  after  a  ride,  a  gentleman 
in  the  uniform  of  a  United  States  officer  came 
up-stairs  and  marched  into  my  sitting-room,  say 
ing  he  wished  to  see  me  on  business.  I  thought 
it  was  one  of  my  numerous  friends  coming  with 
a  message  from  some  one  who  was  going  to 
avenge  Bull's  Run  on  me.  So,  going  out  as 
speedily  as  I  could,  I  bowed  to  the  officer,  and 
asked  his  business.  "I've  come  here  because 
I'd  like  to  trade  with  you  about  that  chestnut 
horse  of  yours."  I  replied  that  I  could  only* 
state  what  price  I  had  given  for  him,  and  say 
that  I  would  take  the  same,  and  no  less.  "What 
may  you  have  given  for  him  ?"  I  discovered 
that  my  friend  had  been  already  to  the  stable 
and  ascertained  the  price  from  the  groom,  who 
considered  himself  bound  in  duty  to  r.ame  a  few 
dollars  beyond  the  actual  sum  I  had  given,  for 
when  I  mentioned  the  price  the  countenance 
of  the  man  of  war  relaxed  into  a  grim  smile. 
"Well,  I  reckon  that  help  of  yours  is  a  pretty 
smart  chap,  though  he  does  come  from  your  side 
of  the  world."  When  the  preliminaries  had 
been  arranged,  the  officer  announced  that  he  had 
come  on  behalf  of  another  officer  to  offer  me  an 
order  on  his  paymaster,  payable  at  some  future 
date,  for  the  animal,  which  he  desired,  however, 
to  take  away  upon  the  spot.  The  transaction  was 
rather  amusing,  but  I  consented  to  let  the  ani 
mal  go,  much  to  the  indignation  and  uneasiness 
of  the  Scotch  servant,  who  regarded  it  as  con 
trary  to  all  the  principles  of  morality  in  horse 
flesh. 

Lord  A.  V.  Tempest  and  another  British  sub 
ject  who  applied  to  Mr.  Seward  to-day  for  leave 
to  go  South,  were  curtly  refused.  The  Foreign 
Secretary  is  not  very  well  pleased  with  us  just 
now,  and  there  has  been  some  little  uneasiness 
between  him  and  Lord  Lyons,  in  consequence 
of  representations  respecting  an  improper  excess 
in  the  United  States  marine  on  the  lakes,  con 
trary  to  treaty.  The  real  cause,  perhaps,  of  Mr. 
Seward's  annoyance  is  to  be  found  in  the  ex 
aggerated  statements  of  the  American  papers 
respecting  British  reinforcements  for  Canada, 
which,  in  truth,  are  the  ordinary  reliefs.  These 
small  questions  in  the  present  condition  of  af 
fairs  cause  irritation  ;  but  if  the  United  States 
were  not  distracted  by  civil  war,  they  would  be 
seized  eagerly  as  pretexts  to  excite  the  popular 
mind  against  Great  Britain. 

The  great  difficulty  of  all,  which  must  be  set 
tled  some  day,  relates  to  San  Juan ;  and  every 
American  I  have  met  is  persuaded  Great  Britain 
is  in  the  wrong,  and  must  consent  to  a  compro 
mise  or  incur  the  risk  of  war.  The  few  English 
in  Washington,  I  think,  were  all  present  at  din 
ner  at  the  Legation  to-day. 

September  Wth. — A  party  of  American  officers 
passed  the  evening  where  I  dined — all,  of  course, 
Federals,  but  holding  very  different  views.  A 
Massachusetts  Colonel,  named  Gordon,  asserted 
that  slavery  was  at  the  root  of  every  evil  which 
afflicted  the  Republic  ;  that  it  was  not  necessary 
in  the  South  or  anywhere  else,  and  that  the  Soijth 
maintained  the  institution  for  political  as  well  as 
private  ends.  A  Virginian  Captain,  on  the  con 
trary,  declared  that  slavery  was  in  itself  good ; 
that  it  could  not  be  dangerous,  as  it  was  essen 
tially  conservative,  and  desired  nothing  "better 
than  to  be  left  alone;  but  that  the  Northern 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


197 


fanatics,  jealous  pf  the  superior  political  influ 
ence  and  ability  of  Southern  statesmen,  and  sor 
did  Protectionists  who  wished  to  bind  the  South 
to  take  their  goods  exclusively,  perpetrated  all 
the  mischief.  An  officer  of  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia  assigned  all  the  misfortunes  of  the  coun 
try  to  universal  suffrage,  to  foreign  immigration, 
and  to  these  alone.  Mob-law  revolts  well-edu 
cated  men,  and  people  who  pride  themselves  be 
cause  their  fathers  lived  in  the  country  before 
them  will  not  be  content  to  see  a  foreigner  who 
has  been  but  a  short  time  on  the  soil  exercising 
is  great  influence  over  the  fate  of  the  country  as 
liimself.  A  contest  will,  therefore,  always  be  go 
ing  on  between  those  representing  the  oligarch 
ical  principle  and  the  pollarchy ;  and  the  result 
must  be  disruption,  sooner  or  later,  because  there 
is  no  power  in  a  republic  to  restrain  the  strug 
gling  factions  which  the  weight  of  the  crown  com 
presses  in  monarchical  countries. 

I  dined  with  a  namesake — a  major  in  the 
United  States  Marines — with  whom  I  had  be 
come  accidentally  acquainted,  in  consequence 
of  our  letters  frequently  changing  hands,  and 
spent  an  agreeable  evening  in  company  with 
naval  and  military  officers ;  not  the  less  so  be 
cause  our  host  had  some  marvellous  Madeira, 
dating  back  from  the  Conquest  —  I  mean  of 
Washington.  Several  of  the  officers  spoke  in 
the  highest  terms  of  General  Banks,  whom  they 
call  a  most  remarkable  man ;  but  so  jealous  are 
the  politicians  that  he  will  never  be  permitted, 
they  think,  to  get  a  fair  chance  of  distinguishing 
himself. 


CHAPTER  LYL 

A  Crimean  acquaintance — Persona!  abuse  of  myself— 
Close  firing — A  reconnaissance — Major-General  Bell — 
The  Prince  de  Joinville  and  his  nephews — American 
estimate  of  Louis  Napoleon — Arrest  of  members  of  the 
Maryland  Legislature — Life  at  Washington — War  cries 
— News  from  the  Far  West — Journey  to  the  Western 
States — Along  the  Susquehannah  and  Juniata— Chicago 
— Sport  in  the  prairie — Arrested  for  shooting  on  Sun 
day — The  town  of  Dwight — Iteturn  to  Washington — 
Mr.  Seward  and  myself. 

September  lllh. — A  soft-voiced,  round-faced, 
rather  good-looking  young  man,  with  downy 
moustache,  came  to  my  room,  and  introduced 
himself  this  morning  as  Mr.  H.  H.  Scott,  formerly 
of  Her  Majesty's  57th  Regiment.  "Don't  you 
remember  me?  I  often  met  you  at  Cathcart's 
Hill.  I  had  a  big  dog,  if  you  remember,  which 
used  to  be  about  the  store  belonging  to  our  earn  p." 
And  so  he  rattled  on,  talking  of  old  Street  and 
young  Jones  with  immense  volubility,  and  telling 
me  how  he  had  gone  out  to  India  with  his  regi 
ment,  had  married,  lost  his  wife,  and  was  now 
travelling  for  the  benefit  of  his  health  and  to  see 
the  country.  All  the  time  I  was  trying  to  re 
member  his  face,  but  in  vain.  At  last  came  the 
purport  of  his  visit.  He  had  been  taken  ill  at 
Baltimore,  and  was  obliged  to  stop  at  an  hotel, 
which  had  cost  him  more  than  he  had  anticipated ; 
he  had  just  received  a  letter  from  his  father,  which 
required  his  immediate  return,  and  he  had  tele 
graphed  to  New  York  to  secure  his  place  in  the 
next  steamer.  Meantime,  he  was  out  of  money, 
and  required  a  small  loan  to  enable  him  to  go 
back  and  prepare  for  his  journey,  and  of  course 
he  would  send  mo  the  money  the  moment  he  ar 
rived  in  New  York  I  wrote  a  cheque  for  the 


amount  he  named,  with  which  Lieutenant  or  Cap 
tain  Scott  departed ;  and  my  suspicions  were  ra 
ther  aroused  by  seeing  him  beckon  a  remarkably 
ill-favoured  person  at  the  other  side  of  the  way, 
who  crossed  over  and  inspected  the  little  slip  of 
paper  held  out  for  his  approbation, 'and  then,  tak 
ing  his  friend  under  the  arm,  walked  off  rapidly 
towards  the  bank. 

The  papers  still  continue  to  abuse  me  faute  de 
mieux  ;  there  are  essays  written  about  me :  I  am 
threatened  with  several  farces ;  I  have  been  lec 
tured  upon  at  "Willard's  by  a  professor  of  rheto 
ric;  and  I  am  a  stock  subject  with  the  leaden 
penny  funny  journals,  for  articles  and  caricatures. 
Yesterday  I  was  abused  on  the  ground  that  I 
spoke  badly  of  those  who  treated  me  hospitably. 
The  man  who  wrote  the  words  knew  they  were 
false,  because  I  have  been  most  careful  in  my  cor 
respondence  to  avoid  anything  of  the  kind.  A 
favourite  accusation,  indeed,  which  Americans 
make  against  foreigners  is,  "  that  they  have  abused 
our  hospitality,"  which  oftentimes  consists  in  per 
mitting  them  to  live  in  the  country  at  all  at  their 
own  expense,  paying  their  way  at  hotels  anfcelse- 
where,  without  the  smallest  suspicion  that  they 
were  receiving  any  hospitality  whatever. 

To-day,  for  instance,  there  comes  a  lively  cor 
poral  of  artillery,  John  Robinson,  who  quotes  Sis- 
mondi,  G-uizot,  and  others,  to  prove  that  I  am  the 
worst  man  in  the  world ;  but  his  fiercest  invec 
tives  are  directed  against  me  on  the  ground  that 
I  speak  well  of  those  people  who  give  me  dinners ; 
the  fact  being,  since  I  came  to  America,  that  I 
have  given  at  least  as  many  dinners  to  Ameri 
cans  as  I  have  received  from  them. 

Just  as  I  was  sitting  down  to  my  desk  for  the 
remainder  of  the  day,  a  sound  caught  my  ear 
which,  repeated  again  and  again,  could  not  be 
mistaken  by  accustomed  organs,  and  placing  my 
face  close  to  the  windows,  I  perceived  the  glass 
vibrate  to  the  distant  discharge  of  cannon,  which, 
evidently,  did  not  proceed  from  a  review  or  a  sa 
lute.  Unhappy  man  that  I  am  !  here  is  "Walker 
lame,  and  my  other  horse  carried  off  by  the  West- 
country  captain.  However,  the  sounds  were  so 
close  that  in  a  few  moments  I  was  driving  off 
towards  the  Chain  Bridge,  taking  the  upper  road, 
as  that  by  the  canal  has  become  a  sea  of  mud  fill 
ed  with  deep  holes. 

In  the  windows,  on  the  house-tops,  even  to  the 
ridges  partially  overlooking  Virginia,  people  were 
standing  in  high  excitement,  watching  the  faint 
puffs  of  smoke  which  rose  at  intervals  above  the 
tree-tops,  and  at  every  report  a  murmur — excla 
mations  of  "There,  do  you  hear  that?" — ran 
through  the  crowd.  The  driver,  as  excited  as 
any  one  else,  urged  his  horses  at  full  speed,  and 
we  arrived  at  the  Chain  Bridge  just  as  General 
M'Call — a  white  haired,  rather  military-looking 
old  man — appeared  at  the  head  of  his  column, 
hurrying  down  to  the  Chain  Bridge  from  the  Ma 
ryland  side,  to  reinforce  Smith,  who  was  said  to 
be  heavily  engaged  with  the  enemy.  But  by  this 
time  the  firing  had  ceased,  and  just  as  the  artil 
lery  of  the  General's  column  commenced  defiling 
through  the  mud,  into  which  the  guns  sank  to  the 
naves  of  the  wheels,  the  head  of  another  column 
appeared,  entering  the  bridge  from  the  Virginia 
side  with  loud  cheers,  which  were  taken  up  again 
and  again.  The  carriage  was  halted  to  allow  the 
2nd  Wisconsin  to  pass;  and  a  more  broken- 
down,  white-faced,  sick,  and  weakly  set  of  poor 


198 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


wretches  I  never  beheld.  The  heavy  rains  had 
washed  the  very  life  out  of  them  ;  their  clothing 
was  in  rags,  their  shoes  were  broken,  and  multi 
tudes  were  foot-sore.  They  cheered,  neverthe 
less,  or  whooned,  and  there  was  a  tremendous 
clatter  of  tongues  in  the  ranks  concerning  their 
victory ;  but,  as  the  men's  faces  and  hands  were 
not  blackened  by  powder,  they  could  have  seen 
little  of  the  engagement.  Captain  Poe  came 
along  with  dispatches  for  General  M'Clellan,  and 
gave  me  a  correct  account  of  the  affair. 

All  this  noise  and  tiring  and  excitement,  I 
found,  simply  arose  out  of  a  reconnaissance  made 
towards  Lewinsviile,  by  Smith  and  a  part  of  his 
brigade,  to  beat  up  the  enemy's  position,  and  en 
able  the  topographical  engineers  to  procure  some 
information  respecting  the  country.  The  Con 
federates  worked  down  upon  their  left  flank  with 
artillery,  which  they  got  into  position  at  an  easy 
range  without  being  observed,  intending,  no 
doubt,  to  cut  off  their  retreat  and  capture  or  de 
stroy  the  whole  force;  but,  fortunately  for  the 
reconnoitring  party,  the  impatience  of  their  ene- 
miesied  them  to  open  fire  too  soon.  The  Fede 
rals  got  their  guns  into  position  also,  and  covered 
their  retreat,  whilst  reinforcements  poured  out  of 
camp  to  their  assistance,  "and  I  doubt  not,"  said 
Poe,  "  but  that  they  will  have  an  account  of  a 
tremendous  scalping  match  in  all  the  papers  to 
morrow,  although  we  have  only  six  or  seven  men 
killed,  and  twelve  wounded."  As  we  approached 
"Washington  the  citizens,  as  they  are  called,  were 
waving  Federal  banners  out  of  the  windows  and 
rejoicing  in  a  great  victory ;  at  least,  the  inhabi 
tants  of  the  inferior  sort  of  houses.  Respectability 
in  Washington  means  Secession. 

Mr.  Monson  told  me  that  my  distressed  young 
British  subject,  Captain  Scott,  had  called  on  him 
at  the  Legation  early  this  morning  for  the  little 
pecuniary  help  which  had  been,  I  fear,  wisely 
refused  there,  and  which  was  granted  by  me. 
The  States  have  become,  indeed,  more  than  ever 
the  doacina  gentium,  and  Great  Britain  contri 
butes  its  full  quota  to  the  stream. 

Thus  time  passes  away  in  expectation  of  some 
onward  movement,  or  desperate  attack,  or  impor 
tant  strategical  movements ;  and  night  comes  to 
assemble  a  few  friends,  Americans  and  English, 
at  my  rooms  or  elsewhere,  to  talk  over  the  disap 
pointed  hopes  of  the  day,  to  speculate  on  the 
future,  to  chide  each  dull  delay,  and  to  part  with 
a  hope  that  to-morrow  would  be  more  lively  than 
to-day.  Major-General  Bell,  who  commanded 
the  Royals  in  the  Crimea,  and  who  has  passed 
some  half  century  in  active  service,  turned  up  in 
"Washington,  and  has  been  courteously  received 
by  the  American  authorities.  He  joined  to-night 
one  of  our  small  reunions,  and  was  infinitely 
puzzled  to  detect  the  lines  which  separated  one 
man's  country  and  opinions  from  those  of  the  other. 

September  llth. —  Captain  Johnson,  Queen's 
messenger,  started  with  despatches  for  England 
from  the  Legation  to-day,  to  the  regret  of  our 
little  party.  I  observe  by  the  papers  certain 
wiseacres  in  Philadelphia  have  got  up  a  petition 
against  me  to  Mr.  Seward,  on  the  ground  that  I 
have  been  guilty  of  treasonable  practices  and 
misrepresentations  in  my  letter  dated  August 
10th.  There  is  also  to  be  a  lecture  on  the  17th 
at  Willard's,  by  the  Professor  of  Rhetoric,  to  a 
volunteer  regiment,  which  the  President  is  invit 
ed  to  attend — the  subject  being  myself. 


There  is  an  absolute  nullity  .of  events,  out  of 
which  the  New  York  papers  endeavour,  in  vain, 
to  extract  a  caput  mortuum  of  sensation  headings. 
The  Prince  of  Joinville  and  his  two  nephews,  the 
Count  of  Paris  and  the  Duke  of  Chartres,  have 
been  here  for  some  days,  and  have  been  received 
with  marked  attention  by  the  President,  Cabinet, 
politicians,  and  military.  The  Prince  has  coma 
with  the  intention  of  placing  his  son  at  the  Unit 
ed  States  Naval  Academy,  and  his  nephews  with 
the  head-quarters  of  the  Federal  army.  The 
impressement  exhibited  at  the  "White  Houso 
towards  the  French  princes  is  attributed  by  ill- 
natured  rumours  and  persons  to  a  little  pique  on 
the  part  of  Mrs.  Lincoln,  because  the  Princess 
Clothilde  did  not  receive  her  at  New  York,  but 
considerable  doubts  are  entertained  of  the  Em 
peror's  "  loyalty"  towards  the  Union.  Under 
the  wild  extravagance  of  professions  of  attach 
ment  to  France  are  hidden  suspicious  that  Louis 
Napoleon  may  be  capable  of  treasonable  prac 
tices  and  misrepresentations,  which,  in  time,  may 
lead  the  Philadelphians  to  get  up  a  petition 
against  M.  Mercier. 

The  news  that  twenty-two  members  of  tho 
Maryland  Legislature  have  been  seized  by  the 
Federal  authorities  has  not  produced  the  smallest 
effect  here  :  so  easily  do  men  in  the  midst  of 
political  troubles  bend  to  arbitrary  power,  and  so 
rapidly  do  all  guarantees  disappear  in  a  revolu 
tion.  I  was  speaking  to  one  of  General  M'Clel- 
lan's  aides  de  camp  this  evening  respecting  these 
things,  when  he  said — "If  I  thought  he  would 
use  his  power  a  day  longer  than  was  necessary, 
I  would  resign  this  moment.  I  believe  him  inca 
pable  of  any  selfish  or  unconstitutional  views,  or 
unlawful  ambition,  and  you  will  see  that  he  will 
not  disappoint  our  expectations." 

It  is  now  quite  plain  M'Clellan  has  no  intention 
of  making  a  general  offensive  movement  against 
Richmond.  He  is  aware  his  army  is  not  equal 
to  the  task  —  commissariat  deficient,  artillery 
wanting,  no  cavalry;  above  all,  ill-officered, 
incoherent  battalions.  He  hopes,  no  doubt,  by 
constant  reviewing  and  inspection,  and  by  weed 
ing  out  the  preposterous  fellows  who  render 
epaulettes  ridiculous,  to  create  an  infantry  which 
shall  be  able  for  a  short  campaign  in  the  fine 
autumn  weather ;  but  I  am  quite  satisfied  he  does 
not  intend  to  move  now,  and  possibly  will  not  do 
so  till  next  year.  I  have  arranged  therefore  to 
pay  a  short  visit  to  the  West,  penetrating  as  far 
as  I  can,  without  leaving  telegraphs  and  rail 
ways  behind,  so  that  if  an  advance  takes  place, 
I  shall  be  back  in  time  at  Washington  to  assist 
at  the  earliest  battle.  These  Federal  armies  do 
not  move  like  the  corps  of  the  French  republic, 
or  Crawford's  Light  Division. 

In  truth,  Washington  life  is  becoming  exceed 
ingly  monotonous  and  uninteresting.  The  plea 
sant  little  evening  parties  or  tertulias  which  once 
relieved  the  dulness  of  this  dullest  of  capitals, 
take  place  no  longer.  Very  wrong  indeed  would 
it  be  that  rejoicings  and  festivities  should  occur  in 
the  capital  of  a  country  menaced  with  destruction, 
where  many  anxious  hearts  are  grieving  over  the 
lost,  or  tortured  with  fears  for  the  living. 

But  for  the  hospitality  of  Lord  Lyons  to  the 
English  residents,  the  place  would  be  nearly 
insufferable,  for  at  his  house  one  met  other  friend 
ly  ministers  who  extended  the  circle  of  invita 
tions,  and  two  or  three  American  families  com- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


199 


pleted  the  list  which  jne  could  reckon  on  his 
fingers.  Then  at  night,  there  were  assemblages 
of  the  same  men,  who  uttered  the  same  opinions, 
told  the  same  stories,  sang  the  same  songs,  varied 
seldom  by  strange  faces  or  novel  accomplishments, 
but  always  friendly  and  social  enough — not  con 
ducive  perhaps  to  very  early  rising,  but  innocent 
of  gambling,  or  other  excess.  A  flask  of  Bor 
deaux,  a  wicker-covered  demijohn  of  Bourbon, 
a  jug  of  iced-water,  and  a  bundle  of  cigars,  with 
the  latest  arrival  of  newspapers,  furnished  the 
materiel  of  these  small  symposiums,  in  which 
Americans  and  Englishmen  and  a  few  of  the 
members  of  foreign  Legations,  mingled  in  a 
friendly  cosmopolitan  manner.  Now  and  then 
a  star  of  greater  magnitude  came  down  upon  us : 
a  senator  or  an  "  earnest  man,"  or  a  "  live  man," 
or  a  constitutional  lawyer,  or  a  remarkable  states 
man,  coruscated,  and  rushing  off  into  the  outer 
world  left  us  befogged,  with  our  glimmering 
lights  half  extinguished  with  tobacco  smoke. 

Out  of  doors  excessive  heat  alternating  with 
thunder-storms  and  tropical  showers— dust  beaten 
into  mud,  or  mud  sublimated  into  dust — eternal 
reviews,  each  like  the  other — visits  to  camp, 
where  we  saw  the  same  men  and  heard  the  same 
stories  of  perpetual  abortive  skirmishes — rides 
confined  to  the  same  roads  and  paths  by  lines  of 
sentries,  offered  no  greater  attraction  than  the 
city,  where  one's  bones  were  racked  with  fever 
and  ague,  and  where  every  evening  the  pestilen 
tial  vapours  of  the  Potomac  rose  higher  and 
spread  further.  No  wonder  that  I  was  glad  to 
get  away  to  the  Far  West,  particularly  as  I  en 
tertained  hopes  of  witnessing  some  of  the  opera 
tions  down  the  Mississippi,  before  I  was  summon 
ed  back  to  Washington, .  by  the  news  that  the 
grand  army  had  actually  broken  up  camp,  and 
was  about  once  more  to  march  against  Rich 
mond. 

September  12th. — The  day  passed  quietly,,  in 
spite  of  rumours  of  another  battle;  the  band 
played  in  the  President's  garden,  and  citizens 
and  citizenesses  strolled  about  the  grounds  as  if 
Secession  had  been  annihilated.  The  President 
made  a  fitful  appearance,  in  a  grey  shooting  suit, 
with  a  number  of  despatches  in  his  hand,  and 
walked  off  towards  the  State  Department  quite 
unnoticed  by  the  crowd.  I  am  sure  not  half  a 
dozen  persons  saluted  him — not  one  of  the  men  I 
saw  even  touched  his  hat.  General  Bell  went 
round  the  works  with  M'Clellan,  and  expressed 
his  opinion  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  fight  a 
great  battle  in  the  country  which  lay  between 
the  two  armies — in  fact,  as  he  said,  "  a  general 
could  no  more  handle  his  troops  among  the  woods, 
than  he  could  regulate  the  movements  of  rabbits 
in  a  cover.  You  ought  just  to  make  a  proposition 
to  Beauregard  to  come  out  on  some  plain  and 
fight  the  battle  fairly  out  where  you  can  see  each 
other." 

September  16th. — It  is  most  agreeable  to  be  re 
moved  from  all  the  circumstance  without  any  of 
the  pomp  and  glory  of  war.  Although  there  is  a 
tendency  in  the  North,  and,  for  aught  I  know,  in 
the  South,  to  consider  the  contest  in  the  same 
light  as  one  with  a  foreign  enemjr,  the  very  bat 
tle-cries  on  both  sides  indicate  a  civil  war.  "  The 
Union  for  ever" — "States  rights" — and  "Down 
with  the  Abolitionists,"  cannot  be  considered  na 
tional.  iM'Clellan  takes  no  note  of  time  even  by 
its  loss,  which  is  all  the  more  strange  because  he 


sets  great  store  upon  it  in  his  report  on  the  con 
duct  of  the  war  in  the  Crimea.  However,  he 
knows  an  army  cannot  be  made  in  two  months, 
and  that  the  larger  it  is,  the  more  time  there  is 
required  to  harmonize  its  components.  The  news 
from  the  Far  West  indicated  a  probability  of  some 
important  operations  taking  place,  although  my 
first  love — the  army  of  the  Potomac — roust  be 
returned  to.  Any  way  there  was  the  great  West 
ern  Prairie  to  be  seen,  and  the  people  who  have 
been  pouring  from  their  plains  so  many  thousands 
upon  the  Southern  States  to  assert  the  liberties 
of  those  coloured  races  whom  they  will  not  per 
mit  to  cross  their  borders  as  freemen.  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  Mr.  Blair,  and  other  Abolitionists,  are 
actuated  by  similar  sentiments,  and  seek  to  eman 
cipate  the  slave,  arid  remove  from  him  the  pro 
tection  of  his  master,  in  order  that  they  may 
drive  him  from  the  continent  altogether,  or  force 
him  to  seek  refuge  in  emigration. 

On  the  18th  of  September,  I  left  Baltimore  in 
company  with  Major-G-eneral  Bell,  C.B.,  and  Mr. 
Lamy,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  West 
ern  States :  stopping  one  night  at  Altoona,  in 
order  that  we  might  cross  by  daylight  the  fine 
passes  of  the  Alleganies,  which  are  traversed  by 
bold  gradients,  and  remarkable  cuttings,  second 
only  in  difficulty  and  extent  to  those  of  the  rail 
road  across  the  Sommering. 

So  far  as  my  observation  extends,  no  route  in 
the  United  States  can  give  a  stranger  a  better 
notion  of  the  variety  of  scenery  and  of  resources, 
the  vast  extent  of  territory,  the  difference  in 
races,  the  prosperity  of  the  present,  and  the  pro 
bable  greatness  of  the  future,  than  the  line  from 
Baltimore  by  Harrisburg  and  Pittsburg  to  Chica 
go,  traversing  the  great  States  of  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  and  Indiana.  Plain  and  mountain,  hill  and 
valley,  river  and  meadow,  forest  and  rock,  wild 
tracts  through  which  the  Indian  roamed  but  a 
few  years  ago,  lands  covered  with  the  richest 
crops ;  rugged  passes,  which  Salvator  would  have 
peopled  with  shadowy  groups  of  bandits ;  gentle 
sylvan  glades,  such  as  Gainsborough  would  have 
covered  with  waving  corn ;  the  hum  of  mills,  the 
silence  of  the  desert  and  waste,  sea-like  lakes 
whitened  by  innumerable  sails,  mighty  rivers 
carving  their  way  through  continents,  sparkling 
rivulets  that  lose  their  lives  amongst  giant  wheels : 
seams  and  lodes  of  coal,  iron,  and  mineral  wealth, 
cropping  out  of  desolate  mountain  sides;  busy, 
restless  manufacturers  and  traders  alternating  with 
stolid  rustics,  hedges  clustering  with  grapes, 
mountains  whitening  with  snow;  and  beyond, 
the  great  Prairie  stretching  away  to  the  backbone 
of  inhospitable  rock,  which,  rising  from  the  foun 
dations  of  the  world,  bars  the  access  of  the  white 
man  and  civilization  to  the  bleak  inhospitable 
regions  beyond,  which  both  are  fain  as  yet  to 
leave  to  the  savage  and  wild  beast. 

Travelling  along  the  banks  of  the  Susquehan- 
nah,  the  visitor,  however,  is  neither  permitted  to 
admire  the  works  of  nature  in  silence,  nor  to  ex 
press  his  admiration  of  the  energy  of  man  in  his 
own  way.  The  tyranny  of  public  opinion  is  upon 
him.  He  must  admit  that  he  never  saw  anything 
so  wonderful  in  his  life;  that  there  is  nothing  so 
beautiful  anywhere  else;  no  fields  so  green,  no 
rivers  so  wide  and  deep,  no  bridges  so  lofty  and 
long;  and  at  last  he  is  inclined  to  shut  himself  up, 
either  in  absolute  grumpy  negation,  or  to  indulge 
in  hopeless  controversy.  An  American  gentle- 


200 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


man  is  as  little  likely  as  any  other  well-bred  man 
to  force  the  opinions  or  interrupt  the  reveries  of  a 
stranger ;  but  if  third-class  Esquimaux  are  allowed 
to  travel  in  first-class  carriages,  the  hospitable 
creatures  will  be  quite  likely  to  insist  on  your 
swallowing  train  oil,  eating  blubber,  or  admiring 
snow-drifts,  as  the  finest  things  in  the  world.  It 
is  infinitely  to  the  credit  of  the  American  people 
that  actual  offence  is  so  seldom  given  and  is  still 
more  rarely  intended — always  save  and  except 
in  the  one  particular,  of  chewing  tobacco.  Hav 
ing  seen  most  things  that  can  irritate  one's  sto 
mach,  and  being  in  company  with  an  old  soldier, 
I  little  expected  that  any  excess  of  the  sort  could 
produce  disagreeable  effects;  but  on  returning 
from  this  excursion,  Mr.  Lamy  and  myself  were 
fairly  driven  out  of  a  carriage,  on  the  Pittsburg 
line,  in  utter  loathing  and  disgust,  by  the  condi 
tion  of  the  floor.  The  conductor,  passing  through, 
said,  "  You  must  not  stand  out  there,  it  is  against 
the  rules;  you  can  go  in  and  smoke,"  pointing  to 
the  carriage.  "In  there!"  exclaimed  my  friend, 
"  why,  it  is  too  filthy  to  put  a  wild  beast  into." 
The  conductor  looked  in  for  a  moment,  nodded 
his  head,  and  said,  "  Well,  I  concede  it  is  right 
bad ;  the  citizens  are  going  it  pretty  strong."  and 
so  left  us. 

The  scenery  along  the  Juniata  is  still  more 
picturesque  than  that  of  the  valley  of  the  Susque- 
hannah.  The  borders  of  the  route  across  the 
Alleganies  have  been  described  by  many  a  writer ; 
but  notwithstanding  the  good  fortune  which 
favoured  us,  and  swept  away  the  dense  veil  of 
vapours  on  the  lower  ranges  of  the  hills,  the  land 
scape  scarcely  produced  the  effect  of  scenery  on  a 
less  extended  scale,  just  as  the  scenery  of  the 
Himalayas  is  not  so  striking  as  that  of  the  Alps, 
because  it  is  on  too  vast  a  scale  to  be  readily 
grasped. 

Pittsburg,  where  we  halted  next  night,  on  the 
.  Ohio,  is  certainly,  with  the  exception  of  Birming 
ham,  the  most  intensely  sooty,  busy,  squalid,  fonl- 
noused,  and  vile-suburbed  city  I  have  ever  seen. 
Under  its  perpetual  canopy  of  smoke,  pierced  by  a 
forest  of  blackened  chimneys,  the  ill-paved  streets, 
swarm  with  a  streaky  population  whose  white 
faces  are  smutched  with  soot-streaks — the  noise 
of  vans  and  drays  which  shake  the  houses  as  they 
pass,  the  turbulent  life  in  the  thoroughfares,  the 
wretched  brick  tenements, — built  in  waste  places 
on  squalid  mounds,  surrounded  by  heaps  of  slag 
and  broken  brick — all  these  give  the  stranger  the 
idea  of  some  vast  manufacturing  city  of  the  Infer 
no  ;  and  yet  a  few  miles  beyond,  the  country  is 
studded  with  beautiful  villas,  and  the  great  river, 
bearing  innumerable  barges  and  steamers  on  its 
broad  bosom,  rolls  its  turbid  waters  between 
banks  rich  with  cultivated  crops. 

The  policeman  at  Pittsburg  station — a  burly 
Englishman — told  me  that  the  war  had  been  of 
the  greatest  service  to  the  city.  He  spoke  not 
only  from  a  policeman's  point  of  view,  when  he 
said  that  all  the  rowdies,  Irish,  Germans,  and 
others  had  gone  off  to  the  war,  but  from  the  ma 
nufacturing  stand-point,  as  he  added  that  wages 
were  high,  and  that  the  orders  from  contractors 
were  keeping  all  the  manufacturers  going.  "  It 
is  wonderful,"  said  he,  "what  a  number  of  citi 
zens  come  back  from  the  South  by  rail,  in  these 
new  metallic  coffins." 

A  long,  long  day,  traversing  the  State  of  Indi 
ana  by  the  Fort  Wayne  route,  followed  by  a 


longer  night,  just  sufficed  to  carry  us  to  Chicago. 
The  railway  passes  through  a  most  uninteresting 
country,  which  in  part  is  scarcely  rescued  from  a 
state  of  nature  by  the  hand  of  man ;  but  it  is 
wonderful  to  see  so  much  done,  when  one  hears 
that  the  Miami  Indians  and  other  tribes  were 
driven  out,  or,  as  the  phrase  is,  "  removed,"  only 
twenty  years  ago — "  conveyed,  the  wise  call  it '' 
— to  the  reserves. 

From  Chicago,  where  we  descended  at  a  hotel 
which  fairly  deserves  to  be  styled  magnificent,  for 
comfort  and  completeness,  Mr.  Lamy  and  myself 
proceeded  to  Racine,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Mi 
chigan,  and  thence  took  the  rail  for  Freeport, 
where  I  remained  for  some  days,  going  out  in  the 
surrounding  prairie  to  shoot  in  the  morning,  and 
returning  at  nightfall.  The  prairie  chickens  were 
rather  wild.  The  delight  of  these  days,  notwith 
standing  bad  sport,  cannot  be  described,  nor  was 
it  the  least  ingredient  in  it  to  mix  with  the  fresh 
and  vigorous  race  who  are  raising  up  cities  on 
these  fertile  wastes.  Fortunately  for  the  patience 
of  my  readers,  perhaps,  I  did  not  fill  my  diary 
with  the  records  of  each  day's  events,  or  of  the 
contents  of  our  bags;  and  the  note-book  in  which 
I  jotted  down  some  little  matters  which  struck 
me  to  be  of  interest  has  been  mislaid ;  but  in  my 
letters  to  England  I  gave  a  description  of  the  ge 
neral  aspect  of  the  country,  and  of  the  feelings  of 
the  people,  and  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
tax-gatherer  will  have  little  chance  of  returning 
with  full  note-books  from  his  tour  in  these  dis 
tricts.  The  dogs  which  were  lent  to  us  were 
generally  abominable ;  but  every  evening  we  re 
turned  in  company  with  great  leather-greaved 
and  jerkined  men,  hung  round  with  belts  and 
hooks,  from  which  were  suspended  strings  of 
defunct  prairie  chickens.  The  farmers  were  hos 
pitable,  but  were  suffering  from  a  morbid  longing 
for  a  failure  of  crops  in  Europe,  in  order  to  give 
some  value  to  their  corn  and  wheat,  which  lite 
rally  cumbered  the  earth. 

Freeport !  Who  ever  heard  of  it  ?  And  yet 
it  has  its  newspapers,  more  than  I  dare  mention, 
and  its  big  hotel  lighted  with  gas,  its  billiard 
rooms  and  saloons,  magazines,  railway  stations, 
and  all  the  proper  paraphernalia  of  local  self- 
government,  with  all  their  fierce  intrigues  and 
giddy  factions. 

From  Freeport  our  party  returned  to  Chicago, 
taking  leave  of  our  excellent  friend  and  compa 
nion  Mr.  George  Thompson  of  Racine.  The  au 
thorities  of  the  Central  Illinois  Railway,  to  whose 
courtesy  and  consideration  I  was  infinitely  in 
debted,  placed  at  our  disposal  a  magnificent 
sleeping  carriage ;  and  on  the  morning  after  our 
arrival,  having  laid  in  a  good  stock  of  supplies, 
and  engaged  an  excellent  sporting  guide  and 
dogs,  we  started,  attached  to  the  regular  train 
from  Chicago,  until  the  train  stopped  at  a  shunt 
ing  place  near  the  station  of  Dwight,  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  prairie.  We  reached  our  halting- 
place,  were  detached,  and  were  shot  up  a  siding 
in  the  solitude,  with  no  habitation  in  view,  ex 
cept  the  wood  shanty,  in  which  lived  the  family 
of  the  Irish  overseer  of  this  portion  of  the  road — 
a  man  happy  in  the  possession  of  a  piece  of  gold 
which  he  received  from  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and 
for  which  he  declared,  he  would  not  take  the 
amount  of  the  National  Debt. 

The  sleeping  carriage  proved  most  comfortable 
quarters.  After  breakfast  in  the  morning,  Mr. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


201 


Lamy,  Col.  Foster,  Mr. ,  of  the  Central  Illi 
nois  rail,  the  keeper,  and  myself,  descending  the 
steps  of  our  movable  house,  walked  in  a  few 
strides  to  the  shooting  grounds,  which  abounded 
with  quail,  but  were  not  so  well  peopled  by  the 
chickens.  The  quail  were  weak  on  the  wing, 
owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  season,  and  my  com 
panions  grumbled  at  their  hard  luck,  though  I 
was  well  content  with  fresh  air,  my  small  share 
of  birds,  and  a  few  American  hares.  Night  and 
morning  the  train  rushed  by,  and  when  darkness 
settled  down  upon  the  prairie,  our  lamps  were 
lighted,  dinner  was  served  in  the  carriage,  set 
forth  with  inimitable  potatoes  cooked  by  the  old 
Irishwoman.  From  the  dinner-table  it  was  but 
a  step  to  go  to  bed.  When  storm  or  rain  rushed 
over  the  sea-like  plain,  I  remained  in  the  carriage 
writing,  and  after  a  long  spell  of  work,  it  was  in 
expressibly  pleasant  to  take  a  ramble  through 
the  flowering  grass  and  the  sweet-scented  broom, 
and  to  gobeating  through  the  stunted  under-cover, 
careless  of  rattle-snakes,  whose  tiny  prattling 
music  I  heard  often  enough  without  a  sight  of 
the  tails  that  made  it. 

One  rainy  morning,  the  29th  September,  I 
think,  as  the  sun  began  to  break  through  drift 
ing  rain  clouds,  I  saw  my  companions  preparing 
their  guns,  the  sporting  chaperon  Walker  filling 
the  shot  flasks,  and  making  all  the  usual  arrange 
ments  for  a  day's  shooting.  "  You  don't  mean 
to  say  you  are  going  out  shooting  on  a  Sunday  1" 
I  gaid.  "  What,  on  the  prairies!"  exclaimed  Co 
lonel  Foster.  "Why,  of  course  we  are;  there's 
nothing  wrong  in  it  here.  What  nobler  temple 
can  we  find  to  worship  in  than  lies  around  us  ? 
It  is  the  custom  of  the  people  hereabout  to  shoot 
on  Sundays,  and  it  is  a  work  of  necessity  with 
us,  for  our  larder  is  very  low." 

And  so,  after  breakfast,  we  set  out,  but  the 
rain  came  down  so  densely  that  we  were  driven 
to  the  house  of  a  farmer,  and  finally  we  returned 
to  our  sleeping  carriage  for  the  day.  I  never 
fired  a  shot  nor  put  a  gun  to  my  shoulder,  nor 
am  I  sure  that  any  of  my  companions  killed  a  bird. 

The  rain  fell  with  violence  all  day,  and  at  night 
the  gusts  of  wind  shook  the  carriage  like  a  ship 
at  sea.  We  were  sitting  at  table  after  dinner, 
when  the  door  at  the  end  of  the  carriage  opened, 
and  a  man,  in  a  mackintosh  dripping  wet,  ad 
vanced  with  unsteady  steps  along  the  centre  of 
the  carriage,  between  the  beds,  and  taking  off  his 
hat,  in  the  top  of  which  he  searched  diligently, 
stood  staring  with  lack-lustre  eyes  from  one  to 
the  other  of  the  party,  till  Colonel  Foster  ex 
claimed,  "Well,  sir,  what  do  you  want?" 

"  What  do  I  want?"  he  replied,  with  a  slight 
thickness  of  speech,  "which  of  you  is  the 
Honourable  Lord  William  Russell,  correspondent 
of  the  London  Times?  That's  what  I  want." 

I  certified  to  my  identity;  whereupon,  draw 
ing  a  piece  of  paper  out  of  his  hat,  he  continued, 
"Then  I  arrest  you,  Honourable  Lord  William 
Russell,  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  Com 
monwealth  of  Illinois,"  and  thereupon  handed 
me  a  document  declaring  that  one  Morgan,  of 
Dwight,  having  come  before  him  that  day  and 
sworn  that  I,  with  a  company  of  men  and  dogs, 
had  unlawfully  assembled,  and  by  firing  shots, 
and  by  barking  and  noise,  had  disturbed  the 
peace  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  he,  the  subscriber 
or  justice  of  the  peace,  as  named  and  described, 
commanded  the  constable  Podgers,  or  whatever 


his  name  was,  to  bring  my  body  before  him  to 
answer  to  the  charge. 

Now  this  town  of  Dwight  was  a  good  many 
miles  away,  the  road  was  declared  by  those  who 
knew  it  to  be  very  bad,  the  night  was  pitch  dark, 
the  rain  falling  in  torrents,  and  as  the  constable, 
drawing  out  of  his  hat  paper  after  paper  with 
the  names  of  impossible  persons  upon  them, 
served  subpoenas  on  all  the  rest  of  the  party  to 
appear  next  morning,  the  anger  of  Colonel  Foster 
could  scarcely  be  restrained,  by  kicks  under  the 
table  and  nods  and  becks  and*  wreathed  smiles 
from  the  rest  of  the  party.  "This  is  infamous! 
It  is  a  political  persecution!"  he  exclaimed, 
whilst  the  keeper  joined  in  chorus,  declaring  he 
never  heard  of  such  a  proceeding  before  in  all  hia 
long  experience  of  the  prairie,  and  never  knew 
there  was  such  an  act  in  existence.  The  Irish 
men  in  the  hut  added  that  the  informer  himself 
generally  went  out  shooting  every  Sunday. 
However,  I  could  not  but  regret  I  had  given  the 
fellow  an  opportunity  of  striking .  at  me,  and 
though  I  was  the  only  one  of  the  party  who 
raised  an  objection  to  our  going  out  at  all,  I  was 
deservedly  suffering  for  the  impropriety — to  call 
it  here  by  no  harsher  name. 

The  constable,  a  man  of  a  liquid  eye  and  a 
cheerful  countenance,  paid  particular  attention 
meantime  to  a  large  bottle  upon  the  table,  and 
as  I  professed  my  readiness  to  go  the  moment  he 
had  some  refreshment  that  very  wet  night,  the 
stern  severity  becoming  a  minister  of  justice, 
which  marked  his  first  utterances,  was  sensibly 

mollified ;  and  when  Mr. proposed  that  he 

should  drive  back  with  him  and  see  the  prose 
cutor,  he  was  good  enough  to  accept  my  written 
acknowledgment  of  the  service  of  the  writ,  and 
promise  to  appear  the  following  morning,  as  an 
adequate  discharge  of  his  duty — combined  with 
the  absorption  of  some  Bourbon  whisky — and  so 
retired. 

Mr.  returned  late  at  night,  and  very 

angry.  It  appears  that  the  prosecutor — who  la 
not  a  man  of  very  good  reputation,  and  whom  his 
neighbours  were  as  much  astonished  to  find  the 
champion  of  religious  observances  as  they  would 
have  been  if  he  was  to  come  forward  to  insist  on 
the  respect  due  to  the  seventh  commandment- — 
with  the  insatiable  passion  for  notoriety,  which  is 
one  of  the  worst  results  of  American  institutions, 
thought  he  would  gain  himself  some  little  reputa 
tion  by  causing  annoyance  to  a  man  so  unpopular 
as  myself.  He  and  a  companion  having  come 
from  Dwight  for  the  purpose,  and  hiding  in  the 
neighbourhood,  had,  therefore,  devoted  their  day 
to  lying  in  wait  and  watching  our  party;  and  as 
they  were  aware  in  the  railway  carriage  I  was 
with  Colonel  Foster,  they  had  no  difficulty  in 
finding  out  the  names  of  the  rest  of  the  party. 
The  magistrate  being  his  relative,  granted  the 
warrant  at  once ;  and  the  prosecutor,  who  was  in 
waiting  for  the  constable,  was  exceedingly  disap 
pointed  when  he  found  that  I  had  not  been 
dragged  through  the  rain. 

Next  morning,  a  special  engine  which  had 
been  ordered  up  by  telegraph  appeared  alongside 
the  car;  and  a  short  run  through  a  beautiful 
country  brought  us  to  the  prairie  town  of  Dwight. 
The  citizens  were  astir — it  was  a  great  day — and 
as  I  walked  with  Colonel  Foster,  all  the  good 
people  seemed  to  be  enjoying  an  unexampled 
treat  in  gazing  at  the  stupendous  criminal.  The 


202 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


court-bouse,  or  magistrate's  office,  was  suitable 
to  the  republican  simplicity  of  the  people  of 
Dwight ;  for  the  chamber  of  justice  was  on  the 
first  floor  of  a  house  over  a  store,  and  access  was 
obtained  to  it  by-a  ladder  from  the  street  to  a 
platform,  at  the  top  of  which  I  was  ushered  into 
the  presence  of  the  court — a  plain  whitewashed 
room.  I  am  not  sure  there  was  even  an  engrav 
ing  of  George  "Washington  on  the  walls.  The 
magistrate  in  a  full  suit  of  black,  with  his  hat  on, 
was  seated  at  a  small  table ,  behind  him  a  few 
books,  on  plain  tleal  shelves,  provided  his  fund 
of  legal  learning.  The  constable,  with  a  severer 
visage  than  that  of  last  night,  stood  upon  the 
right  hand ;  three  sides  of  the  room  were  sur 
rounded  by  a  wall  of  stout  honest  Dwightians, 
among  whom  I  produced  a  profound  sensation, 
by  the  simple  ceremony  of 'taking  off  my  hat, 
which  they  no  doubt  considered  a  token  of  the 
degraded  nature  of  the  Britisher,  but  which 
moved  the  magistrate  to  take  off  his  head-cover 
ing;  whereupon  some  of  the  nearest  removed 
theirs,  some  putting  them  on  again,  and  some  re 
maining  uncovered;  and  then  the  informations 
were  read,  and  on  being  asked  what  I  had  to  say, 
I  merely  bowed,  and  said  I  had  no  remarks  to 
offer.  But  my  friend,  Colonel  Foster,  who  had 
been  churning  up  his  wrath  and  forensic  lore  for 
some  time,  putting  one  hand  under  his  coat  tail, 
and  elevating  the  other  in  the  air,  with  modulat 
ed  cadences,  poured  out  a  fine  oratorical  flow 
which  completely  astonished  me,  and  whipped 
the  audience  morally  off  their  legs  completely. 
In  touching  terms  he  described  the  mission  of  an 
illustrious  stranger,  who  had  wandered  over 
thousands  of  miles  of  land  and  sea  to  gaze  upon 
the  beauties  of  those  prairies  which  the  Great 
Maker  of  the  Universe  had  expanded  as  the  ban 
queting  tables  for  the  famishing  millions  of  pau 
perised  and  despotic  Europe.  As  the  representa 
tive  of  an  influence  which  the  people  of  the  great 
State  of  Illinois  should  wish  to  see  developed,  in 
stead  of  contracted,  honoured  instead  of  being  in 
sulted,  he  had  come  among  them  to  admire  the 
grandeur  of  nature,  and  to  behold  with  wonder 
the  magnificent  progress  of  human  happiness  and 
free  institutions.  (Some  thumping  of  sticks,  and 
cries  of  "Bravo,  that's  so,"  which  warmed  the 
Colonel  into  still  higher  flights.)  I  began  to  feel 
if  he  was  as  great  in  invective  as  he  was  in  eulo 
gy,  it  was.  well  he  had  not  lived  to  throw  a 
smooth  pebble  from  his  sling  at  Warren  Hastings. 
As  great  indeed  1  Why,  when  the  Colonel  had 
drawn  a  beautiful  picture  of  me  examining  coal 
deposits — investigating  strata — breathing  autum 
nal  airs,  and  culling  flowers  in  unsuspecting  inno 
cence,  and  then  suddenly  denounced  the  serpent 
who  had  dogged  my  steps,  in  order  to  strike  me 
down  with  a  justice's  warrant,  I  protest  it  is 
doubtful,  if  he  did  not  reach  to  the  most  elevated 
stage  of  vituperative  oratory,  the  progression  of 
which  was  marked  by  increasing  thumps  of  sticks, 
and  louder  murmurs  of  applause,  to  the  discomfi 
ture  of  the  wretched  prosecutor.  But  the  magis 
trate  was  not  a  man  of  imagination ;  he  feli  he 
was  but  elective  after  all ;  and  so.  with  his  eye 
fixed  upon  his  book,  he  pronounced  his  decision, 
which  was  that  I  be  amerced  in  something  more 
than  half  the  maximum  fine  fixed  by  the  statute, 
some'  five-and-twenty  shillings  or  so,  the  greater 
part  to  be  spent  in  the  education  of  the  people,  by 
transfer  to  the  school  fund  of  the  State. 


As  I  was  handing  the  notes  to  the  magistrate, 
several  respectable  men  coming  forward,  ex 
claimed,  "  Pray  oblige  us,  Mr.  Russell,  by  letting 
us  pay  the  amount  for  you ;  this  is  a  shameful 
proceeding."  But  thanking  them  heartily  for 
their  proffered  kindness,  I  completed  the  littlo 
pecuniary  transaction  and  wished  the  magistrate- 
good  morning,  with  the  remark  that  I  hoped  the 
people  of  the  State  of  Illinois  would  always  find 
such  worthy  defenders  of  the  statutes  as  the  pro 
secutor,  and  never  have  offenders  against  their 
peace  and  morals  more  culpable  than  myself. 
Having  undergone  a  severe  scolding  from  an  old 
woman  at  the  top  of  the  ladder,  I  walked  to  the 
train,  followed  by  a  number  of  the  audience,  who 
repeatedly  expressed  their  extreme  regret  at  the 
little  persecution  to  which  I  had  been  subjected. 
The  prosecutor  had  already  made  arrangements 
to  send  the  news  over  the  whole  breadth  of  the 
Union,  which  was  his  only  reward :  as  I  must  do 
the  American  papers  the  justice  to  say  that,  with 
a  few  natural  exceptions,  those  which  noticed 
the  occurrence  unequivocally  condemned  his 
conduct. 

That  evening,  as  we  were  planning  an  exten 
sion  of  our  sporting  tour,  the  mail  rattling  by  de 
posited  our  letters  and  papers,  and  we  saw  at  tho 
top  of  many  columns  the  startling  words,  "  Grand 
Advance  of  the  Union  Army."  "  M'Clellan 
Marching  on  Richmond."  "Capture  of  Mun- 
son's  Hill."  "Retreat  of  the  Enemy— 30,000 
Men  Seize  Their  Fortifications."  Not  a  moment 
was  to  be  lost ;  if  I  was  too  late,  I  never  would 
forgive  myself.  Our  carriage  was  hooked  on  to 
the  return  train,  and  at  8  o'clock  P.M.  I  started 
on  my  return  to  Washington,  by  way  of  Cleveland. 

At  half-past  3  on  the  1st  October  the  train 
reached  Pittsburg,  just  too  late  to  catch  the  train 
for  Baltimore;  but  I, continued  my  journey  at 
night,  arriving  at  Baltimore  after  noon,  and  reach 
ing  Washington  at  6  P.M.  on  the  2nd-  of  October. 

October  3rd. — In  Washington  once  more — all 
the  world  laughing  at  the  pump  and  the  wooden 
guns  at  Munson's  Hill,  but  angry  withal  because 
M'Clellan  should  be  so  befooled  as  they  consi 
dered  it,  by  the  Confederates.  The  fact  is  M'Clel 
lan  was  riot  prepared  to  move,  and  therefore  not 
disposed  to  hazard  a  general  engagement,  which 
he  might  have  brought  on  had  the  enemy  been 
in  force ;  perhaps  he  knew  they  were  not,  but 
found  it  convenient  nevertheless  to  act  as  though 
he  believed  they  had  established  themselves 
strongly  in  his  front,  as  half  the  world  will  give 
him  credit  for  knowing  more  than  the  civilian 
strategists  who  have  already  got  into  disgrace  for 
urging  M'Dowell  on  to  Richmond.  The  Federal 
armies  are  not  handled  easily.  They  are  luxu 
rious  in  the  matter  of  baggage,  and  canteens,  and 
private  stores ;  and  this  is  just  the  sort  of  war  in 
which  the  general  who  moves  lightly  and  rapidly, 
striking  blows  unexpectedly  and  deranging  com 
munications,  will  obtain  great  results. 

Although  Beauregard's  name  is  constantly 
mentioned,  I  fancy  that,  crafty  and  reticent  as  he 
is,  the  operations  in  front  of  us  have  been  directed 
by  an  officer  of  larger  capacity.  As  yet  M'Clellan 
has  certainly  done  nothing  in  the  field  to  show 
he  is  like  Napoleon.  The  value  of  his  labours  in 
camp  has  yet  to  be  tested.  I  dined  at  the  Lega 
tion,  and  afterwards  there  was  a  meeting  at  my 
rooms,  where  I  heard  of  all  that  had  passed  during 
my  absence. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


203 


October  4tfi. — The  new  expedition,  of  which  I 
have  been  hearing  for  some  time  past,  is  about  to 
sail  to  Port  Royal,  under  the  command  of  Gene 
ral  Burnside,  in  order  to  reduce  the  works  erected 
at  the  entrance  of  the  Sound,  to  secure  a  base  of 
operations  against  Charleston,  and  to  cut  in  upon 
the  communication  between  that  place  and  Sa 
vannah.  Alas,  for  poor  Trescot !  his  plantations, 
his  secluded  home!  What  will  the  good  lady 
think  of  the  Yankee  invasion,  which  surely  must 
succeed,  as  the  naval  force  will  be  overwhelming  ? 
I  visited  the  division  of  General  Egbert  Viele, 
encamped  near  the  Navy-yard,  which  is  bound 
to  Annapolis,  as  a  part  of  General  Burnside's  ex 
pedition.  When  first  I  saw  him,  the  general  was 
an  emeritus  captain,  attached  to  the  7th  New 
York  Militia ;  now  he  is  a  Brigadier-General,  if 
,  not  something  more,  commanding  a  corps  of 
nearly  5000  men,  with  pay  and  allowances  to 
match.  His  good  lady  wife,  who  accompanied 
him  in  the  Mexican  campaign, — whereof  came  a 
book,  lively  and  light,  as  a  lady's  should  be, — 
was  about  to  accompany  her  husband  in  his 
assault  on  the  Carolinians,  and  prepared  for  action, 
by  opening  a  small  broadside  on  my  unhappy  self, 
whom  she  regarded  as  an  enemy  of  our  glorious 
Union ;  and  therefore  an  ally  of  the  Evil  Powers 
on  both  sides  of  the  grave.  The  women,  North 
and  South,  are  equally  pitil^s  to  their  enemies ; 
and.  it  was  but  the  other  day,  a  man  with  whom 
I  am  on  very  good  terms  in  Washington,  made 
an  apology  for  not  asking  me  to  his  house,  be 
cause  his  wife  was  a  strong  Union  woman. 

A  gentleman  who  had  beeu  dining  with  Mr. 
Seward  to-night  told  me  the  Minister  had  com 
plained  that  I  had  not  been  near  him  for  nearly 
two  months ;  the  fact  was,  however,  that  I  had 
called  twice  immediately  after  the  appearance  in 
America  of  my  letter  dated  July  22nd,  and  had 
met  Mr.  Seward  afterwards,  when  his  manner 
was,  or  appeared  to  me  to  be,  cold  and  distant, 
and  I  had  therefore  abstained  from  intruding  my 
self  upon  his  notice;  nor  did  his  answer  to  the 
Philadelphia  petition — in  which  Mr.  Seward  ap 
peared  to  admit  the  allegations  made  against  me 
were  true,  and  to  consider  I  had  violated  the 
hospitality  accorded  me — induce  me  to  think  that 
he  did  not  entertain  the  opinion  which  these  jour 
nals  which  set  themselves  up  to  be  his  organs 
had  so  repeatedly  expressed. 


.      CHAPTER  LVII. 

Another  Crimean  acquaintance — Summary  dismissal  of 
a  newspaper  correspondent— Dinner  at  Lord  Lyons' 
—Review  of  artillery— "Habeas  Corpus"— The  Presi 
dent's  duties— MKDlellan's  policy — The  Union  Army 
— Soldiers  and  the  patrol — Public  men  in  America — 
Mr.  Sflward  and  Lord  Lyons — A.  Judse  placed  under 
arrest — Death  and  funeral  of  Senator  Baker — Dis 
orderly  troops  and  officers — Official  fibs— Duck-shoot 
ing  at  Baltimore. 

October  5th. — A  day  of  heat  extreme.  Tumbled 
in  upon  me  an  old  familiar  face  and  voice,  once 
Forster  of  a  hospitable  Crimean  hut  behind 
Mother  Seacole's,  commanding  a  battalion  of 
Land  Transport  Corps,  to'which  he  had  descend 
ed  or  sublimated  from  his  position  as  ex- Austrian 
dragoon  and  beau  sabreur  under  old  Radetzsky 
in  Italian  wars ;  now  a  eolonel  of  distant  volun 
teers,  and  a  member  of  the  Parliament  of  British 
Columbia.  He  was  on  his  way  home  to  Europe, 


and  had  travelled  thus  far  out  of  his  way  to  see 
his  friend. 

After  him  came  in  a  gentleman,  heated,  wild- 
eyed,  and  excited,  who  had  been  in  the  South, 
where  he  was  acting  as  correspondent  to  a  Lon 
don  newspaper,  and  on  his  return  to  Washington 
had  obtained  a  pass  from  General  Scott.  Accord 
ing  to  his  own  story,  he  had  been  indulging  in  a 
habit  which  free-born  Englishmen  may  occasion 
ally  find  to  be  inconvenient  in  foreign  countries 
in  times  of  high  excitement,  and  had  been  ex 
pressing  his  opinion  pretty  freely  in  favour  of  the 
Southern  cause  in  the  bar-rooms  of  Pennsylvania 
Avenue.  Imagine  a  Frenchman  going  about  the 
taverns  of  Dublin  during  an  Irish  rebellion,  ex 
pressing  his  sympathy  with  the  rebels,  and  you 
may  suppose  he  would  meet  with  treatment  at 
least  as  peremptory  as  that  which  the  Federal 
authorities  gave  Mr.  D .  In  fine,  that  morn 
ing  early,  he  had  been  waited  upon  by  an  officer, 
who  requested  his  attendance  at  the  Provost 
Marshal's  office ;  arrived  there,  a  functionary, 
after  a  few  queries,  asked  him  to  give  up  Gene 
ral  Scott's  pass,  and  when  Mr.  D refused  to 

do  so,  proceeded  to  execute  a  terrible  sort  of 
process  verbal  on  a  large  sheet  of  foolscap,  the 
initiatory  flourishes  and  prolegomena  of,  which 

so  intimidated  Mr.  D ,  that  he  gave  up  his 

pass  and  was  permitted  to  depart,  in  order  that 
he  might  start  for  England  by  the  next  steamer. 
A  wonderful  Frenchman,  who  lives  up  a  back 
street,  prepared  a  curious  banquet,  at  which  Mr. 
Irvine,  Mr.  Warre,  Mr.  Anderson,  Mr.  Lamy,  and 
Colonel  Forster  assisted ;  and  in  the  evening  Mr. 
Lincoln's  private  secretary,  a  witty,  shrewd,  and 
pleasant  young  fellow,  who  looks  a  little  more 
than  eighteen  years  of  age,  came  in  with  a  friend, 
whose  name  I  forget;  and  by  degrees  the  circle 
expanded,  till  the  walls  seemed  to  have  become 
elastic,  so  great  was  the  concourse  of  guests. 

October  6th.— A.  day  of  wandering  around,  and 
visiting,  and  listening  to  rumours  all  unfounded. 
I  have  applied  for  permission  to  accompany  the 
Burnside  expedition,  but  I  am  advised  not  to  leave 
Washington,  as  M'Clellan  will  certainly  advance 
as  soon  as  the  diversion  has  been  made  down 
South. 

October  nth. — The  heat  to-day  was  literally 
intolerable,  and  wound  up  at  last  in  a  tremen 
dous  thunder-storm  with  violent  gusts  of  rain.  At 
the  Legation,  where  Lord  Lyons  entertained  the 
English  visitors  at  dinner,  the  rooms  were  shaken 
by  thunder  claps,  and  the  blinding  lightning 
seemed  at  times  to  turn  the  well-illuminated 
rooms  into  caves  of  darkness. 

October  8th. — A  review  of  the  artillery  at  this 
side  of  the  river  took  place  to-day,  which  has 
been  described  in  very  inflated  language  by  tha 
American  papers,  the  writers  on  which — never 
having  seen  a  decently-equipped  force  of  the 
kind — pronounce  the  sight  to  have  been  of 
unequalled  splendour;  whereas  the  appearance 
of  horses  and  men  was  very  far  from  respectable 
in  all  matters  relating  to  grooming,  cleanliness, 
and  neatness.  General  Barry  has  done  wonders 
in  simplifying  the  force  and  reducing  the  number 
of  calibres,  which  varied  according  to  the  fancy 
of  each  State,  or  men  of  each  officer  who  raised  a 
battery ;  but  there  are  still  field-guns  of  three 
inches. and  of  three  inches  and  a  half,  Napoleon 
guns,  rifled  10  Ib.  Parrots,  ordinary  9 -pounders, 
a  variety  of  howitzers,  20  Ib.  Parrot  rifled  guns, 


204 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


and  a  variety  of  different  projectiles  in  the  cais 
sons.  As  the  men  rode  past,  the  eye  was  dis 
tressed  by  discrepancies  in  dress.  Many  wore 
red  or  white  worsted  comforters  round  their 
necks,  few  had  straps  to  their  trousers;  some 
had  new  coats,  others  old ;  some  wore  boots, 
others  shoes:  not  one  had  clean  spurs,  bits, 
curb-chains,  or  buttons.  The  officers  cannot  get 
the  men  to  do  what  the  latter  regard  as  works  of 
supererogation. 

There  were  72  guns  in  all ;  and  if  the  horses 
were  not  so  light,  there  would  be  quite  enough 
to  do  for  the  Confederates  to  reduce  their  fire,  as 
the  pieces  are  easily  handled,  and  the  men  like 
artillery  and  take  to  it  naturally,  being  in  that 
respect  something  like  the  natives  of  India. 

While  I  was  standing  in  the  crowd,  I  heard  a 
woman  say,  "  I  doubt  if  that  Russell  is  riding 
about  here.  I  should  just  like  to  see  him  to  give 
him  a  piece  of  my  mind.  They  say  he's  honest, 
but  I  call  him  a  poor  pre-jewdiced  Britisher. 
This  sight  '11  give  him  fits."  I  was  quite  delight 
ed  at  my  incognito.  If  the  caricatures  were  at 
all  like  me,  I  should  have  what  the  Americans 
call  a  bad  time  of  it. 

On  the  return  of  the  batteries  a  shell  exploded 
in  a  caigson  just  in  front  of  the  President's  house, 
and,  miraculous  to  state,  did  not  fire  the  other 
projectiles.  Had  it  done  so,  the  destruction  of 
life  in  the  crowded  street — blocked  up  with  artil 
lery,  men,  and  horses,  and  crowds  of  men,  women, 
and  children — would  have  been  truly  frightful. 
Sucli  accidents  are  not  uncommon — a  waggon 
blew  up  the  other  day  "out  West,"  and  killed 
and  wounded  several  people ;  and  though  the 
accidents  in  camp  from  firearms  are  not  so  nume 
rous  as  they  were,  there  are  still  enough  to  pre 
sent  a  heavy  casualty  list. 

Whilst  the  artillery  were  delighting  the  citi 
zens,  a  much  more  important  matter  was  taking 
place  in  an  obscure  little  court-house — much  more 
destructive  to  their  freedom,  happiness,  and 
greatness  than  all  the  Confederate  guns  which 
can  ever  be  ranged  against  them.  A  brave, 
upright,  and  'honest  judge,  as  in  duty  bound, 
issued  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  sued  out  by  the 
friends  of  a  minor,  who,  contrary  to  the  laws  of 
the  United  States,  had  been  enlisted  by  an  Ame 
rican  general,  and  was  detained  by  him  in  the 
ranks  of  his  regiment.  The  officer  refused  to 
obey  the  writ,  whereupon  the  judge  issued  an 
attachment  against  him,  and  the  Federal  briga 
dier  came  into  court  and  pleaded  that  he  took 
that  course  by  order  of  the  President.  The  court 
adjourned,  to  consider  the  steps  it  should  take. 

I  have  just  seen  a  paragraph  in  the  local  paper, 
copied  from  a  west  country  journal,  headed 
"  Good  for  Russell,"  which  may  explain  the 
unusually  favourable  impression  expressed  by 
the  women  this  morning.  It  is  an  account  of 
the  interview  I  had  with  the  officer  who  came 
"  to  trade"  for  my  horse,  written  by  the  latter 
to  a  Green  Bay  newspaper,  in  which,  having 
duly  censured  my  "  John  Bullism"  in  not  receiv 
ing  with  the  utmost  courtesy  a  stranger,  who 
walked  into  his  room  before  breakfast  on  busi 
ness  unknown,  he  relates  as  a  proof  of  honesty 
(in  such  a  rare  field  as  trading  in  horseflesh)  that, 
though  my  groom  had  sought  to  put  ten  dollars 
in  my  •  pocket  by  a  mild  exaggeration  of  the 
amount  paid  for  the  animal,  which  was  the  price 
I  said  I  would  take,  I  would  not  have  it. 


October  Qlh. — A  cold,  gloomy  day.  I  am  laid 
up  with  the  fever  and  ague,  which  visit  the  banks 
of  the  Potomac  in  autumn.  It  annoyed  me  the 
more  because  General  M:Clellan  is  making  a 
reconnaissance  to-day  towards  Lewinsville,  with 
10,000  men.  A  gentleman  from  the  War  Depart 
ment  visited  me  to-day,  and  gave  me  scanty 
hopes  of  procuring  any  assistance  from  the  author 
ities  in  taking  the  field.  Civility  costs  nothing, 
and  certainly  if  it  did  United  States  officials 
would  require  high  salaries,,  but  they  often  con 
tent  themselves  with  fair  words. 

There  are  some  things  about  our  neighbours 
which  we  may  never  hope  to  understand.  To 
day,  for  instance,  a  respectable  person,  high  in 
office,  having  been  good  enough  to  invite  me  to 
his  house,  added,  "  You  shall  see  Mrs.  A.,  sir. 
She  is  a  very  pretty  and  agreeable  young  lady, 
and  will  prove  nice  society  for  you,"  meaning  his 
wife. 

Mr.  N.  P.  Willis  was  good  enough  to  call  on 
me,  and  in  the  course  of  conversation  said,  '•  I 
hear  M'Clellan  tells  you  everything.  When  you 
went  away  West  I  was  very  near  going  after 
you,  as  I  suspected  you  heard  something."  Mr. 
Willis  could  have  had  no  grounds  for  this  remark, 
for  very  certainly  it  has  no  foundation  in  fact. 
Truth  to  tell,  General  M'Clellan  seemed,  the  last 
time  I  saw  him,  a  little  alarmed  by  a  paragraph 
in  a  New  York  rjfper,  from  the  Washington 
correspondent,  in  which  it  was  invidiously 
stated,  "General  M'Clellan,  attended  by  Mr. 
Russell,  correspondent  of  the  London  Times, 
visited  the  camps  to-day.  All  passes  to  civilians 
and  others  were  revoked."  There  was  not  the 
smallest  ground  for  the  statement  on  the  day  in 
question,  but  I  am  resolved  not  to  contradict 
anything  which  is  said  about  me,  but  the  General 
could  •  not  well  do  so ;  and  one  of  the  favourite 
devices  of  the  Washington  correspondent  to  fill 
up  his  columns,  is  to  write  something  about  me, 
to  state  I  have  been  refused  passes,  or  have  got 
them,  or  whatever  else  he  likes  to  say. 

Calling  on  the  General  the  other  night  at  his 
usual  time  of  return,  I  was  told  by  the  orderly, 
who  was  closing  the  door,  "  The  General's 
gone  to  bed  tired,  and  can  see  no  one.  He  sent 
the  same  message  to  the  President,  who  came 
inquiring  after  him  ten  minutes  ago." 

This  poor  President !  He  is  to  be  pitied ;  sur 
rounded  by  such  scenes,  and  trying  with  all  his 
might  to  understand  strategy,  naval  warfare,  big 
guns,  the  movements  of  troops,  military  maps, 
reconnaissances,  occupations,  interior  and  exterior 
lines,  and  all  the  technical  details  of  the  art  of 
slaying.  He  runs  from  one  house  to  another, 
armed  with  plans,  papers,  reports,  recommenda 
tions,  sometimes  good-humoured,  never  angry, 
occasionally  dejected,  and  always  a  little  fussy. 
The  other  night,  as  I  was  sitting  in  the  parlour 
at  headquarters,  with  an  English  friend  who  had 
come  to  see  his  old  acquaintance  the  General, 
walked  in  a  tall  man  with  a  navvy's  cap,  and  an 
ill-made  shooting  suit,  from  the  pockets  of  which 
protruded  paper  and  bundles.  "  Well,"  said  he 
to  Brigadier  Van  Vliet,  who  rose  to  receive  him, 
" is  George  in ?" 

"  Yes,  sir.  He's  come  back,  but  is  lying  down, 
very  much  fatigued.  I'll  send  up,  sir,  and  inform 
him  you  wish  to  see  him." 

"  Oh,  no ;  I  can  wait.  I  think  I'll  take  supper 
with  him.  Well,  and  what  are  you  now, — I  for- 


MT  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


205 


get  your  name— are  you  a  major,  or  a  colonel,  or 
a  general ?" 

"  Whatever  you  like  to  make  me,  sir." 

Seeing  that  'General  M'Clellan  would  be  occu 
pied,  I  walked  out  with  my  friend,  who  asked 
me  when  I  got  into  the  street  why  I  stood  up 
when  that  tall  fellow  came  into  the  room.  "  Be 
cause  it  was  the  President."  "  The  President  of 
what  ?"  "  Of  the  United  States,"  "  Oh !  come, 
now  you're  humbugging  me.  Let  me  have 
another  look  at  him."  He  came  back  more  incre 
dulous  than  ever,  but  when  I  assured  him  I  was 
quite  serious,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  give  up  the 
United  States  after  this." 

But  for  all  that,  there  have  been  many  more 
courtly  presidents  who,  in  a  similar  crisis,  would 
have  displayed  less  capacity,  honesty,  and  plain 
dealing  than  Abraham  Lincoln. 

October  IQth. — I  got  hold  of  M'Clellan's  report 
on  the  Crimean  war,  and  made  a  few  candid  re 
marks  on  the  performance,  which  does  not  evince 
any  capacity  beyond  the  reports  of  our  itinerant 
artillery  officers  who  are  sent  from  Woolwich 
abroad  for  their  country's  good.  I  like  the  man, 
but  I  do  not  think  he  is  equal  to  his  occasion  or 
his  place.  There  is  one  little  piece  of  policy 
which  shows  he  is  looking  ahead — either  to  gain 
the  good  will  of  the  army,  or  for  some  larger  ob 
ject.  All  his  present  purpose  is  to  make  himself 
known  to  the  men  personally,  to  familiarize  them 
with  his  appearance,  to  gain  the  acquaintance  of 
the  officers ;  and  with  this  object  he  spends  near 
ly  every  day  in  the  camps,  riding  out  at  nine 
o'clock,  and  not  returning  till  long  after  nightfall, 
examining  the  various  regiments  as  he  goes  along, 
and  having  incessant  inspections  and  reviews. 
He  is  the  first  Republican  general  who  could  at 
tempt  to  do  all  this  without  incurring  censure  and 
suspicion.  Unfortunate  M 'Do well  could  not  in 
spect  his  small  army  without  receiving  a  hint 
that  he  must  not  assume  such  airs,  as  they  were 
more  becoming  a  military  despot  than  a  simple 
lieutenant  of  the  great  democracy. 

October  llth. — Mr.  Mure,  who  has  arrived  here 
in  wretched  health  from  New  Orleans,  after  a  pro 
tracted  and  very  unpleasant  journey  through 
country  swarming  with  troops  mixed  with  gueril 
las,  tells  me  that  I  am  more  detested  in  New 
Orleans  than  I  am  in  New  York.  This  is  ever 
the  fate  of  the  neutral,  if  the  belligerents  can  get 
him  between  them.  The  Girondins  and  men  of 
the  juste  milieu  are  ever  fated  to  be  ground  to 
powder.  The  charges  against  me  were  disposed 
of  by  Mr.  Mure,  who  says  that  what  I  wrote  of 
in  New  Orleans  was  true,  and  has  shown  it  to  be 
so  in  his  correspondence  with  the  Governor,  but, 
over  and  beyond  that,  I  am  disliked,  because  I  do 
not  praise  the  peculiar  institution.  He  amused 
me  by  adding  that  the  mayor  of  Jackson,  with 
whom  I  sojourned,  had  published  "  a  card,"  deny 
ing  point-blank  that  he  had  ever  breathed  a  word 
to  indicate  that  the  good  citizens  around  him  were 
not  famous  for  the  love  of  law,  order,  and  life, 
and  a  scrupulous  regard  to  personal  liberty.  I 
can  easily  fancy  Jackson  is  not  a  place  where  a 
mayor  suspected  by  the  citizens  would  be  exempt 
ed  from  difficulties  now  and  then ;  and  if  this  dis 
claimer  does  my  friend  any  good,  he  is  very  hearti 
ly  welcome  to  it  and  more.  I  have  received  seve 
ral  letters  lately  from  the  parents  of  minors,  ask 
ing  me  to  assist  them  in  getting  back  their  sons, 
who  have  enlisted  illegally  in  the  Federal  army. 


My  writ  does  not  run  any  further  than  a-  Federal 
judge's. 

October  12th. — The  good  people  of  New  York 
and  of  the  other  Northern  cities,  excited  by  con 
stant  reports  in  the  papers  of  magnificent  reviews 
and  unsurpassed  military  spectacles,  begin  to 
flock  towards  Washington  in  hundreds  where  for 
merly  they  came  in  tens.  The  woman-kind  are 
particularly  anxious  to  feast  their  eyes  on  our 
glorious  Union  army.  It  is  natural  enough  that 
Americans  should  feel  pride  and  take  pleasure  in 
the  spectacle ;  but  the  love  of  economy,  the 
hatred  of  military  despotism,  and  the  frugal  vir 
tues  of  republican  government,  long  since  placed 
aside  by  the  exigencies  of  the  Administration, 
promise  to  vanish  for  ever. 

The  feeling  is  well  expressed  in  the  remark  of 
a  gentleman  to  whom  I  was  lamenting  the  civil 
war :  "  Well,  for  my  part,  I  am  glad  of  it.  Why 
should  you  in  Europe  have  all  the  fighting  to 
yourselves  ?  Why  should  we  not  have  our  bloody 
battles,  and  our  big  generals,  and  all  the  rest  of  it  ? 
This  will  stir  up  the  spirits  of  our  people,  do  us 
all  a  power  of  good,  and  end  by  proving  to  all  01 
you  in  Europe,  that  we  are  just  as  good  and  first- 
rate  in  fighting  as  we  are  in  ships,  manufactures, 
and  commerce." 

But  the  wealthy  classes  are  beginning  to  feel 
rather  anxious  about  the  disposal  of  their  money : 
they  are  paying  a  large  insurance  on  the  Union.and 
they  do  not  see  that  anything  has  been  done  to 
stop  the  leak  or  to  prevent  it  foundering.  Mr. 
Duncan  has  arrived ;  to-day  I  drove  with  him  to 
Alexandria,  and  I  think  he  has  been  made  happy 
by  what  he  saw,  and  has  no  doubt  "  the  Union  is 
all  right."  Nothing  looks  so  irresistible  as  your 
bayonet  till  another  is  seen  opposed  to  it. 

October  13th. — Mr.  Duncan,  attended  by  my 
self  and  other  Britishers,  made  an  extensive  ex 
cursion  through  the  camps  on  horseback,  and  I 
led  him  from  Arlington  to  Upton's  House,  up  by 
Munson's  Hill,  to  General  Wadsworth's  quarters, 
where  we  lunched  on  camp  fare,  and,  from  the  ob 
servatory  erected  at  the  rear  of  the  house  in 
which  he  lives,  had  a  fine  view,  this  bright,  cold, 
clear  autumn  day,  of  the  wonderful  expanse  of 
undulating  forest  lands,  streaked  with  rows  of 
tents,  which  at  last  concentrated  into  vast  white 
patches  in  the  distance,  towards  Alexandria. 
The  country  is  desolate,  but  the  camps  are  flour 
ishing,  and  that  is  enough  to  satisfy  most  patriots 
bent  upon  the  subjugation  of  their  enemies. 

October  14:th. — I  was  somewhat  distraught, 
like  a  small  Hercules  twixt  Vice  and  Virtue,  or 
Garrick  between  Comedy  and  Tragedy,  by  my 
desire  to  tell  Duncan  the  truth,  and  at  the  same 
time  respect  the  feelings  of  a  friend.  There  was 
a  rabbledom  of  drunken  men  in  uniforms  under 
our  window,  who  resisted  the  patrol  clearing  the 
streets,  and  one  fellow  drew  his  bayonet,  and, 
with  the  support  of  some  of  the  citizens,  said  that 
he  would  not  allow  any  regular  to  put  a  finger  on 
him.  D —  said  he  had  witnessed  scenes  just  as 
bad,  and  talked  of  lanes  in  garrison  towns  in 
England,  and  street  rows  between  soldiers  and 
civilians ;  and  I  did  not  venture  to  tell  him  the 
scene  we  witnessed  was  the  sign  of  a  radical  vice 
in  the  system  of  the  American  army,  which  is,  I 
believe,  incurable  in  these  large  masses.  Few 
soldiers  would  venture  to  draw  their  bayonets  on 
a  patrol.  If  they  did,  their  punishment  would  be 
tolerably  sure  and  swift,  but  for  all  I  knew  this 


206 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


man  would  be  permitted  to  go  on  his  way  rejoic 
ing.  There  is  news  of  two  Federal  reverses  to 
day.  A  descent  was  made  on  Santa  Rosa  Island, 
and  Mr.  Billy  Wilson's  Zouaves  were  driven  under 
the  guns  of  Pickens,  losing  in  the  scurry  of  the 
night  attack — as  prisoner  only  I  am  glad  to  say 
— poor  Major  Vogdes,  of  inquiring  memory. 
Rosecrans,  who  utterly  ignores  the  advantages  of 
Shaksperian  spelling,  has  been  defeated  in  the 
West ;  but  D —  is  quite  happy,  and  goes  off  to 
New  York  contented. 

October  15th. — Sir  James  Ferguson  and  Mr.  R. 
Bourke,  who  have  been  travelling  in  the  South 
and  have  seen  something  of  the  Confederate  go 
vernment  and  armies,  visited  us  this  evening  after 
dinner.  They  do  not  seem  at  all  desirous  of  test 
ing  by  comparison  the  relative  efficiency  of  the 
two  armies,  which  Sir  James,  at  all  events,  is 
competent  to  do.  They  are  impressed  by  the 
energy  ^and  animosity  of  the  South,  which  no 
doubt  will  have  their  effect  on  England  also ;  but 
it  will  be  difficult  to  popularize  a  Slave  Republic 
as  a  new  allied  power  in  England.  Two  of  Gene 
ral  M'Clellan's  aides  dropped  in,  and  the  meeting 
abstained  from  general  politics. 

October  IQth. — Day  follows  day  and  resembles 
its  predecessor.  M'Clellan  is  still  reviewing,  and 
the  North  are  still  waiting  for  victories  and  pay 
ing  money,  and  the  orators  are  still  wrangling 
over  the  best  way  of  cooking  the  hares  which 
they  have  not  yet  caught.  I  visited  General 
M'Doweli  to-day  in  his  tent  at  Arlington,  and 
found  him  in  a  state  of  divine  calm  with  his  wife  and 
parvus  lulus.  A  public  man  in  the  United  States 
is  very  much  like  a  great  firework — he  commences 
with  gome  small  scintillations  which  attract  the 
eye  of  the  public,  and  then  he  blazes  up  and 
flares  out  in  blue,  purple,  and  orange  fires,  to  the 
intense  admiration  of  the  multitude,  and  dying 
out  suddenly  is  thought  of  no  more,  his  place 
being  taken  by  a  fresh  roman  candle  or  Catherine 
wheel  which  is  thought  to  be  far  finer  than  those 
which  have  just  dazzled  the  eyes  of  the  fickle 
epectators.  Human  nature  is  thus  severely  taxed. 
The  Cabinet  of  State  is  like  the  museum  of  some 
cruel  naturalist,  who  seizes  his  specimens  whilst 
they  are  alive,  bottles  them  up,  forbids  them  to 
make  as  much  as  a  contortion,  labelling  them 
"  My  last  President,  "  "  My  latest  Commander-in- 
chief,"  or  "  My  defeated  General,"  regarding  the 
smallest  signs  of  life  very  much  as  did  the  French 
petit  maitre  who  rebuked  the  contortions  and 
screams  of  the  poor  wretch  who  was  broken  on 
the  wheel,  as  contrary  to  bienstcvnce.  I  am  glad 
that  Sir  James  Ferguson  and  Mr.  Bourke  did  not 
leave  without  making  a  tour  of  inspection  through 
the  Federal  camp,  which  they  did  to-day. 

October  llth.—Dies  non. 

October  18th. — To-day  Lord  Lyons  drove  out 
with  Mr.  Seward  to  inspect  the  Federal  camps, 
which  are  now  in  such  order  as  to  be  worthy  of 
a  visit.  It  is  reported  in  all  the  papers  that  I  am 
going  to  England,  but  I  have  not  the  smallest  in 
tention  of  giving  my  enemies  here  such  a  treat  at 
present.  As  Monsieur  de  Beaumont  of  the 
French  Legation  said,  "  I  presume  you  are  going 
to  remain  in  Washington  for  the  rest  of  your  life, 
because  I  see  it  stated  in  the  New  York  journals 
that  you  are  leaving  us  in  a  day  or  two." 

October  IQth. — Lord  Lyons  and  Mr.  Seward 
were  driving  and  dining  together  yesterday  en 
ami.  To-day  Mr.  Seward  is  engaged  demolishing 


Lord  Lyons,  or  at  all  events  the  British  Govern 
ment,  in  a  despatch,  wherein  he  vindicates  the 
proceedings  of  the  United  States  Government  in 
certain  arrests  of  British  subjects  which  had  been 
complained  of,  and  repudiates  the  doctrine  that 
the  United  States  Government  can  be  bound  by 
the  opinion  of  the  law  officers  of  the  Crown 
respecting  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  American 
constitution.  This  is  published  as  a  set-off  to  Mr. 
Se ward's  circular  on  the  seacoast  defences  which 
created  so  much  depression  and  alarm  in  the 
Northern  States,  where  it  was  at  the  time  con 
sidered  as  a  warning  that  a  foreign  war  was  im 
minent,  and  which  has  since  been  generally  con 
demned  as  feeble  and  injudicious. 

October  2Qth.—l  saw  General  M'Clellan  to-day, 
who  gave  me  to  understand  that  some  small 
movement  might  take  place  on  the  right.  I  rode 
up  to  the  Chain  Bridge  and  across  it  for  some 
miles  into  Virginia,  but  all  was  quiet.  The  ser 
geant  at  the  post  on  the  south  side  of  the  bridge 
had  some  doubts  of  the  genuineness  of  my  pass, 
or  rather  of  its  bearer. 

"I  heard  you  were  gone  back  to  London, 
where  I  am  coming  to  see  you  some  fine  day 
with  the  boys  here." 

"No,  sergeant,  I  am  not  gone  yet,  but  when 
will  your  visit  take  place?" 

"  Oh,  as  soon  as  we  have  finished1  with  the 
gentlemen  across  there." 

"  Have  you  any  notion  when  that  will  be  ?" 

"  Just  as  soon  as  they  tell  us  to  go  on  aud 
prevent  the  blackguard  Germans  running  away." 

"  But  the  Germans  did  not  run  away  at  Bull 
Run  ?" 

"  Faith,  because  they  did  not  get  a  chance- 
sure  they  put  them  in  the  rear,  away  out  of  the 
fighting." 

"  And  why  do  you  not  go  on  now?" 

"  Well,  that's  the  question  we  are  asking  every 
day." 

"And  can  any-one  answer  it?" 

"Not  one  of  us  can  tell;  but  my  belief  is  if  we 
had  one  of  the  old  50th  among  us  at  the  head  of 
affairs  we  would  soon  be  at  them.  I  belonged  to 
the  old  regiment  once,  but  I  got  off  and  took 
up  with  shoe-making  again,  and  faith  if  I  sted  in 
it  I  might  have  been  sergeant-major  by  this  time, 
only  they  hated  the  poor  Roman  Catholics." 

"  And  do  you  think,  sergeant,  you  would  get 
many  of  your  countrymen  who  had  served  in  the 
old  army  to  fight  the  old  familiar  red  jackets  ?" 

I  "  Well,  sir,  I  tell  you  I  hope  my  arm  would  rot 
before  I  would  pull  a  trigger  against  the  old  50th ; 
but  we  would  wear  the  red  jacket  too — we  have 
as  good  a  right  to  it  as  the  others,  and  then  it 
would  be  man  against  man,  you  know ;  but  if  I 
saw  any  of  them  cursed  Germans  interfering  I'd 
soon  let  daylight  into  them."  The  hazy  dreams 
of  this  poor  man's  mind  would  form  an  excellent 
article  for  a  New  York  newspaper,  which  on 
matters  relating  to  England  are  rarely  so  lucid 
and  logical.  Next  day  was  devoted  to  writing 
and  heavy  rain,  through  both  of  which,  notwith 
standing,  I  was  assailed  by  many  visitors  and 
some  scurrilous  letters,  and  in  the  evening  there 
was  a  Washington  gathering  of  Englishry,  Irishry, 
Scotchry,  Yankees,  and  Canadians. 

October  22nd. — Rain  falling  in  torrents.  As  I 
write,  in  come  reports  of  a  battle  last  night,  some 
forty  miles  up  the  river,  which  by  signs  and 
tokens  I  am  led  to  believe  was  unfavourable  to 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


207 


the  Federals.  They  crossed  the  river  intending 
to  move  upon  Leesburg — were  attacked  by  over 
whelming  forces  and  repulsed,  but  maintained 
themselves  on  the  right  bank  till  General  Banks 
reinforced  them  and  enabled  them  to  hold  their 
own.  M'Clellan  has  gone  or  is  going  at  once  to 
the  scene  of  action.  It  was  three  o'clock  before 
I  heard  the  news,  the  road  and  country  were  alike 
unknown,  nor  had  I  friend  or  acquaintance  in 
the  army  of  the  Upper  Potomac.  My  horse  was 
brought  round,  however,  and  in  company  with 
Mr.  Anderson,  I  rode  out  of  Washington  along 
the  river  till  the  falling  evening  warned  us  to 
retrace  our  steps,  and  we  returned  in  pelting  rain 
as  we  set  out,  and  in  pitchy  darkness,  without 
meeting  any  messenger  or  person  with  news  from 
the  battle-field.  Late  at  night  the  White  House 
was  placed  in  deep  grief  by  the  intelligence  that 
in  addition  to  other  losses,  Brigadier  and  Senator 
Baker  of  California  was  killed.  The  President 
was  inconsolable,  and  walked  up  and  down  his 
room  for  hours  lamenting  the  loss  of  his  friend. 
Mrs.  Lincoln's  grief  was  equally  poignant.  Be 
fore  bedtime  I  told  the  German  landlord  to  tell  my 
servant  I  wanted  my  horse  round  at  seven  o'clock. 

October  23rd. — Up  at  six,  waiting  for  my  horse 
and  man.  At  eight  walked  down  to  stables.  No 
one  there.  At  nine  became  very  angry— sent 
messengers  in  all  directions.  At  ten  was  nearly 
furious,  when,  at  the  last  stroke  of  the  clock, 
James,  with  his  inexpressive  countenance,  per 
fectly  calm  nevertheless,  and  betraying  no  symp 
tom  of  solicitude,  appeared  at  the  door  leading 
my  charger.  "And  may  I  ask  you  where  you 
have  been  till  this  time?"  "Wasn't  I  dressing 
the  horse,  taking  him  out  to  water,  and  exercising 
him."  "Good  heavens !  did  I  not  tell  you  to  be 
here  at  seven  o'clock  ?"  "  No,  sir ;  Carl  told  me 
you  wanted  me  at  ten  o'clock,  and  here  I  am." 
"Carl,  did  I  not  tell  you  to  ask  James  to  be 
round  here  at  seven  o'clock  ?"  "  Not  zeven  clock, 
sere,  but  zehn  clock.  I  tell  him,  you  come  at 
zehn  clock."  Thus  at  one  blow  was  I  stricken 
down  by  Gaul  and  Teuton,  each  of  whom  retired 
with  the  air  of  a  man  who  had  baffled  an  intended 
indignity,  and  had  achieved  a  triumph  over  a 
wrong-doer. 

The  roads  were  in  a  frightful  state  outside 
Washington — literally  nothing  but  canals,  in 
which  earth  and  water  were  mixed  together  for 
depths  varying  from  six  inches  to  three  feet  above 
the  surface ;  but  late  as  it  was  I  pushed  on,  and 
had  got  as  far  as  the  turn  of  the  road  to  Rock- 
ville,  near  the  great  falls,  some  twelve  miles 
beyond  Washington,  when  I  met  an  officer  with 
a  couple  of  orderlies,  hurrying  back  from  General 
Banks's  head-quarters,  who  told  me  the  whole 
affair  was  over,  and  that  I  could  not  possibly  get 
to  the  scene  of  action  on  one  horse  till  next 
morning,  even  supposing  that  I  pressed  on  all 
through  the  night,  the  roads  being  utterly  villan- 
ous,  and  the  country  at  night  as  black  as  ink ; 
and  so  I  returned  to  Washington,  and  was  stopped 
by  citizens,  who  seeing  the  streaming  horse  and 
splashed  rider,  imagined  he  was  reeking  from  the 
fray.  "  As  you  were  not  there,"  says  one,  "  I'll 
tell  you  what  I  know  to-be  the  case.  Stone  and 
Baker  are  killed ;  Banks  and  all  the  other  gene 
rals  are  prisoners ;  the  Rhode  Island  and  two 
other  batteries  are  taken,  and  5000  Yankees  have 
been  sent  to  H —  to  help  old  John  Brown  to 
roast  niggers." 


October  24th. — The  heaviest  blow  which  has 
yet  been  inflicted  on  the  administration  of  justice 
in  the  United  States,  and  that  is  saying  a  good 
deal  at  present,  has  been  given  to  it  in  Washing 
ton.  The  judge  of  whom  I  wrote  a  few  days 
ago  in  the  habeas  corpus  case,  has  been  placed 
under  military  arrest  and  surveillance  by  the 
Provost- Marshal  of  the  city,  a  very  fit  man  for 
such  work,  one  Colonel  Andrew  Porter.  The 
Provost-Marshal  imprisoned  the  attorney  who 
served  the  writ,  and  then  sent  a  guard  to  Mr. 
Merrick's  house,  who  thereupon  sent  a  minute  to 
his  brother  judges  the  day  before  yesterday  stat 
ing  the  circumstances,  in  order  to  show  why  he 
did  not  appear  in  his  place  on  the  bench.  The 
Chief  Judge  Dunlop  and  Judge  Morsell  there 
upon  issued  their  writ  to  Andrew  Porter  greeting, 
to  show  cause  why  an  attachment  for  contempt 
should  not  be  issued  against  him  for  his  treat 
ment  of  Judge  Merrick.  As  the  sharp  tongues 
of  women  are  very  troublesome,  the  United 
States  officers  have  quite  little  harems  of  captives, 
and  Mrs.  Merrick  has  just  been  added  to  the 
number.  She  is  a  Wickliffe  of  Kentucky,  and 
has  a  right  to  martyrdom.  The  inconsistencies 
of  the  Northern  people  multiply  ad  infinitum  as 
they  go  on.  Thus  at  Hatteras  they  enter  into 
terms  of  capitulation  with  officers  signing  them 
selves  of  the  Confederate  States  Army  and  Con 
federate  States  Navy ;  elsewhere  they  exchange 
prisoners ;  at  New  York  they  are  going  through 
the  farce  of  trying  the  crew  of  a  C.  S.  privateer, 
as  pirates  engaged  in  robbing  on  the  high  seas, 
on  "  the  authority  of  a  pretended  letter  of  marque 
from  one  Jefferson  Davis."  One  Jeff  Davis  ia 
certainly  quite  enough  for  them  at  present. 

Colonel  and  Senator  Baker  was  honoured  by  a 
ceremonial  which  was  intended  to  be  a  public 
funeral,  rather  out  of  compliment  to  Mr.  Lincoln's 
feelings,  perhaps,  than  to  any  great  attachment 
for  the  man  himself,  who  fell  gallantly  fighting 
near  Leesburg.  There  is  need  for  a  republic  to 
contain  some  elements  of  an  aristocracy  if  it 
would  make  that  display  of  pomp  and  ceremony 
which  a  public  funeral  should  have  to  produce 
effect.  At  all  events  there  should  be  some  prin 
ciple  of  reverence  in  the  heads  and  hearts  of  the 
people,  to  make  up  for  other  deficiencies  in  it  as 
a  show  or  a  ceremony.  The  procession  down 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  was  a  tawdry,  shabby 
string  of  hack  carriages,  men  in  light  coats  and 
white  hats  following  the  hearse,  and  three  regi 
ments  of  foot  soldiers,  of  which  one  was  simply 
an  uncleanly,  unwholesome-looking  rabble.  The 
President,  in  his  carriage,  and  many  of  the  minis 
ters  and  senators,  attended  also,  and  passed 
through  unsympathetic  lines  of  people  on  the 
kerbstones,  not  one  of^prhom  raised  his  hat  to 
the  bier  as  it  passed,  or  to  the  President,  except 
a  couple  of  Englishmen  and  myself  who  stood  in 
the  crowd,  and  that  proceeding  on  our  part  gave 
rise  to  a  variety  of  remarks  among  the  bystanders. 
But  as  the  band  turned  into  Pennsylvania  Ave 
nue,  playing  something  like  the  minuet  de  la  cour 
in  Don  Giovanni,  two  officers  in  uniform  came 
riding  up  in  the  contrary  direction ;  they  were 
smoking  cigars;  one  of  them  let  his  fall  on  the 
ground,  the  other  smoked  lustily  as  the  hearse 
passed,  and  reining  up  his  horse,  continued  to 
puff  his  weed  under  the  nose  of  President,  minis 
ters,  and  senators,  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  was 
doing  a  very  soldierly  correct  sort  of  thing. 


20? 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


"Whether  the  President  is  angry  as  well  as 
grieved  at  the  loss  of  his  favourite  or  not,  I  can 
not  affirm,  but  he  is  assuredly  doing  that  terrible 
thing  which  is  called  putting  his  foot  down  on 
the  judges;  and  he  has  instructed  Andrew  Por 
ter  not  to  mind  the  writ  issued  yesterday,  and 
has  further  instructed  the  United  States  Marshal, 
who  has  the  writ  in  his  hands  to  serve  on  the 
Baid  Andrew,  to  return  it  to  the  court  with  the 
information  that  Abraham  Lincoln  has  suspended 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  cases  relating  to  the 
military. 

October  2Qth. — More  reviews.  To-day  rather  a 
pretty  sight — 12  regiments,  16  guns,  and  a  few 
squads  of  men  with  swords  and  pistols  on  horse 
back,  called  cavalry,  comprising  Fitz-John  Por 
ter's  division.  M'Clellan  seemed  to  my  eyes  crest 
fallen  and  moody  to-day.  Bright  eyes  looked  on 
him ;  he  is  getting  up  something  like  a  staff, 
among  which  are  the  young  French  princes,  un 
der  the  tutelage  of  their  uncle,  the  Prince  of  Join- 
ville.  Whilst  M'Clellan  is  reviewing,  our  Romans 
in  Washington  are  shivering ;  for  the  blockade  of 
the  Potomac  by  the  Confederate  batteries  stops 
the  fuel  boats.  Little  cafe  these  enthusiastic 
young  American  patriots  in  crinoline,  who  have 
come  to  see  M'Clellan  and  the  soldiers,  what  a 
cord  of  wood  costs.  The  lower  orders  are  very 
angry  about  it.  however.  The  nuisance  and  dis 
order  arising  from  soldiers,  drunk  and  sober,  rid 
ing  full  gallop  down  the  streets,  and  as  fast  as 
they  can  round  the  corners,  has  been  stopped,  by 
placing  mounted  sentries  at  the  principal  points 
in  all  the  thoroughfares.  The  "officers"  were 
worse  than  the  men ;  the  papers  this  week  con 
tain  the  account  of  two  accidents,  in  one  of 
which  a  colonel,  in  another  a  major,  was  killed 
by  falls  from  horseback,  in  furious  riding  in  the 
city. 

Forgetting  all  about  this  fact,  and  spurring 
home  pretty  fast  along  an  unfrequented  road, 
leading  from  the  ferry  at  Georgetown  into  the 
city,  I  was  nearly  spitted  by  a  "  dragoon,"  who 
rode  at  me  from  under  cover  of  a  house,  and 
Bhouted  "  stop"  just  as  his  sabre  was  within  a 
foot  of  my  head.  Fortunately  his  horse,  being 
aware  that  if  it  ran  against  mine  it  might  be  in 
jured,  shied,  and  over  went  dragoon,  sabre  and 
all,  and  off  went  his  horse,  but  as  the  trooper  was 
able  to  run  after  it,  I  presume  he  was  not  the 
worse;  and  I  went  on  my  way  rejoicing. 

M'Clellan  has  fallen  very  much  in  my  opinion 
since  the  Leesburg  disaster.  He  went  to  the  spot, 
and  with  a  little — nay,  the  least — promptitude 
and  ability  could  have  turned  the  check  into  a 
successful  advance,  in  the  blaze  of  which  the 
earlier  repulse  would  have  been  forgotten.  It  is 
whispered  that  Genera(^Stone,  who  ordered  the 
movement,  is  guilty  of  treason — a  common  crime 
of  unlucky  generals — at  all  events  he  is  to  be  dis 
placed,  and  will  be  put  under  surveillance.  The 
orders  he  gave  are  certainly  very  strange. 

The  official  right  to  fib,  I  presume,  is  very  much 
the  same  all  over  the  world,  but  still  there  is  more 
dash  about  it  in  the  States,  I  think,  than  else 
where.  "Blockade  of  the  Potomac!"  exclaims 
an  official  of  the  Navy  Department.  "  What  are 
you  talking  of?  The  Department  has  just  heard 
that  a  few  Confederates  have  been  practising  with 
a  few  light  field-pieces  from  the  banks,  and  has 
issued  orders  to  prevent  it  in  the  future."  "De 
feat  at  Leesburg!"  cries  little  K ,  of  M'Clel- 


lan's  staff,  "nothing  of  the  kind.  We  drove  the 
Confederates  at  all  points,  retained  our  position 
on  the  right  bank,  and  only  left  it  whori  we 
pleased,  having  whipped  the  enemy  so  severely 
they  never  showed  since."  "Any  news,  Mr. 
Cash,  in  the  Treasury  to-day?"  "Nothing,  sir, 
except  that  Mr.  Chase  is  highly  pleased  with 
everything ;  he's  only  afraid  of  having  too  much 
money,  and  being  troubled  with  his  balances." 
"  The  State  Department  all  right,  Mr.  Protocol  ?" 
"My  dear  sir!  delightful!  with  everybody,  best 
terms.  Mr.  Seward  and  the  Count  are  managing 
delightfully;  most  friendly  assurances;  Guate 
mala  particularly ;  yes,  and  France  too.  Yes,  I 
may  say  France  too ;  not  the  smallest  difficulty 
at  Honduras ;  altogether,  with  the  assurances  of 
support  we  are  getting,  the  Minister  thinks  the 
whole  affair  will  be  settled  in  thirty  days;  no 
Joking,  I  assure  you;  thirty  days  this  time  posi 
tively.  Say  for  exactness  on  or  about  December 
5th."  The  canvas-backs  are  coming  in,  and  I  am 
off  for  a  day  or  two  to  escape  reviews  and  abuse, 
and  to  see  something  of  the  famous  wild-fowl 
shooting  on  the  Chesapeake. 

October  27th. — After  church,  I  took  a  long 
walk  round  by  the  commissariat  waggons,  where 
there  is,  I  think,  as  much  dirt,  bad  language, 
cruelty  to  animals,  and  waste  of  public  money, 
as  can  be  conceived.  Let  me  at  once  declare  my 
opinion  that  the  Americans,  generally,  are  ex 
ceedingly  kind  to  their  cattle;  but  there  is  a 
hybrid  race  of  ruffianly  waggoners  here,  subject 
to  no  law  or  discipline,  and  the  barbarous  treat 
ment  inflicted  on  the  transport  animals  is  too  bad 
even  for  the  most  unruly  of  mules.  I  mentioned 
the  circumstance  to  General  M 'Do well,  who  told 
me  that  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States  there  • 
was  no  power  to  enlist  a  man  for  commissariat  or 
transport  duty. 

October  28th.— Telegraphed  to  my  friend  at 
Baltimore  that  I  was  ready  for  the  ducks.  The 
Legation  going  to  Mr.  Kortwright's  marriage  at 
Philadelphia.  Started  with  Lamy  at  6  o'clock 
for  Baltimore ;  to  Gilmore  House ;  thence  to 
club.  Every  person  present  said  that  in  my 
letter  on  Maryland  I  had  understated  the  ques 
tion,  as  far  as  Southern  sentiments  were  con 
cerned.  In  the  club,  for  example,  there  are  not 
six  Union  men  at  the  outside.  General  Dix  has 
fortified  Federal  Hill  very  efficiently,  and  the 
heights  over  Fort  McHenry  are  bristling  with 
cannons,  and  display  formidable  earthworks ;  it 
seems  to  be  admitted  that,  but  for  the  action  of 
the  Washington  Government,  the  Legislature 
would  pass  an  ordinance  of  Secession.  Gilmore 
House — old-fashioned,  good  bed-rooms.  Scarcely 
had  I  arrived  in  the  passage,  than  a  man  ran  off 
with  a  paragraph  to  the  papers  that  Dr.  Russell 
had  come  for  the  purpose  of  duck-shooting ;  and, 
hearing  that  I  was  going  with  Taylor,  put  in  that 
I  was  going  to  Taylor's  Ducking  Shore.  It  ap 
pears  that  there  are  considerable  numbers  of  these 
duck  clubs  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Baltimore. 
The  canvas-back  ducks  have  come  in,  but  they 
will  not  be  in  perfection  until  the  10th  of  No 
vember  ;  their  peculiar  flavour  is  derived  from  a 
water-plant  called  wild  celery.  This  lies  at  the 
depth  of  several  feet,  sometimes  nine  or  ten,  and 
the  birds  dive  for  it. 

October  29th. — At  ten  started  for  the  shooting 
ground,  Carroll's  Island ;  my  compauioti,  Mr. 
Pennington,  drove  me  in  a  light  trap,  and  Mr. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


209 


Taylor  and  Lamy  came  wirh  Mr.  Tucker  Carroll,* 
along  with  guns,  &c.  Passed  out  towards  the 
sea,  a  long  height  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the 
river ;  near  this  was  fought  the  battle  with  the 
English,  at  which  the  "  Baltimore  defenders"  ad 
mit  they  ran  away.  Mr.  Pennington's  father 
says  he  can  answer  for  the  speed  of  himself  and 
his  companions,  but  still  the  battle  was  thought 
to  be  glorious.  Along  the  posting  road  to  Phila 
delphia,  passed  the  Blue  Ball  Tavern;  on  all 
gides  except  the  left,  great  wooded  lagoons  visi 
ble,  swarming  with  ducks ;  boats  are  forbidden 
to  fire  upon  the  birds,  which  are  allured  by 
wooden  decoys.  Crossed  the  Philadelphia  Rail 
way  three  times ;  land  poor,  covered  with  under- 
growths  and  small  trees,  given  up  to  Dutch  and 
Irish  and  free  niggers.  Reached  the  duck-club 
house  in  two  hours  and  a  half;  substantial  farm 
house,  with  out-offices,  on  a  strip  of  land  sur 
rounded  by  water ;  Gunpowder  River,  Saltpetre 
River,  facing  Chesapeake ;  on  either  side  lakes 
and  tidal  water ;  the  owner,  Slater,  an  Irishman, 
reputed  very  rich,  self-made.  Dinner  at  one 
o'clock;  any  number  of  canvas-back  ducks, 
plentiful  joints ;  drink  whisky ;  company,  Swan, 
Howard,  Duval,  Morris,  and  others,  also  extra 
ordinary  specimen  named  Smith,  believed  never 
to  wash  except  in  rain  or  by  accidental  sousing 
in  the  river.  Went  out  for  afternoon  shooting ; 
birds  wide  and  high  ;  killed  seventeen  ;  back  to 
supper  at  dusk.  M 'Donald  and  a  guitar  came 
over ;  had  a  negro  dance ;  and  so  to  bed  about 
twelve.  Lamy  got  single  bed ;  I  turned  in  with 
Taylor,  as  single  beds  are  not  permitted  when 
the  house  is*  full.  .  . 

October  SOth. — A  light,  a  grim  man,  and  a  voice 
in  the  room  at  4  a.m.  awaken  me ;  I  am  up  first  ; 
breakfast ;  more  duck,  eggs,  meat,  mighty  cakes, 
milk ;  to  the  gun-house,  already  hung  with  ducks, 
and  then  tramp  to  the  "  blinds"  with  Smith,  who 
talked  of  the  Ingines  and  wild,  sports  in  far 
Minnesota.  As  morning  breaks,  very  red  and 
lovely,  dark  visions  and  long  streaky  clouds  ap 
pear,  skimming  along  from  bay  or  river.  The 
men  in  the  blinds,  which  are  square  enclosures 
of  reeds  about  4£  feet  high,  call  out  "  Bay," 
"  River,"  according  to  the  direction  from  which 
the  ducks  are  coming.  Down  we  go  in  blinds  ; 
they  come ;  puft's  of  smoke,  a  bang,  a  volley ; 
one  bird  falls  with  flop ;  another  by  degrees 
drops,  and  at  last  smites  the  sea ;  there  are  five 
down ;  in  go  the  dogs.  "  Who  shot  that  ?"  "  I 
did."  "  Who  killed  this  ?"  "  That's  Tucker's !" 
"  A  good  shot."  "  I  don't  know  how  I  missed 
mine."  Same  thing  again.  The  ducks  fly  pro 
digious  heights — out  of  all  range  one  would 
think.  It  is  exciting  when  the  cloud  does  rise  at 
first.  Day  voted  very  bad.  Thence  I  move 
homeward ;  talk  with  Mr.  Slater  till  the  trap  is 
ready ;  and  at  twelve  or  so,  drive  over  to  Mr. 
M 'Donald;  find  Lamy  and  Swan  there;  miserable 
shed  of  two-roomed  shanty  in  a  marsh ;  rough 
deal  presses ;  white-washed  walls ;  fiddler  in 
attendance ;  dinner  of  ducks  and  steak ;  whisky, 
and  thence  proceed  to  a  blind  or  marsh,  amid 
wooden  decoys ;  but  there  is  no  use ;  no  birds ; 
high  tide  flooding  everything;  examined  M 'Do 
nald's  stud ;  knocked  to  pieces  trotting  on  hard 
ground.  Rowed  back  to  house  with  Mr.  Pen- 
nington,  and  returned  to  the  mansion  ;  all  the 

*  Since  killed  in  action   fighting   for  the  South  at 
Antietam. 


party  had  but  poor  sport;  but  e^ery  one  had 
killed  something.  Drew  lots  for  bed,  and  won 
this  time ;  Lamy,  however,  would  not  sleep 
double,  and  reposed  on  a  hard  sofa  in  the  par 
lour  ;  indications  favourable  for  ducks.  It  was 
curious,  in  the  early  morning,  to  hear  the  inces 
sant  booming  of  duck-guns,  along  all  the  creeks 
and  coves  of  the  indented  bays  and  salt-water 
marshes;  and  one  could  tell  when  they  were 
fired  at  decoys,  or  were  directed  against  birds  in 
the  air;  heard  a  salute  fired  at  Baltimore  very 
distinctly.  Lamy  and  Mr.  M 'Donald  met  in  their 
voyage  up  the  Nile,  to  kill  ennui  and  spend 
money. 

October  31st. — No,  no,  Mr.  Smith;  it  ain't  of 
no  use.  At  four  a.m.  we  were  invited,  as  usual, 
to  rise,  but  Taylor  and  I  reasoned  from  under  our 
respective  quilts,  thtt  it  would  be  quite  as  good 
shooting  if  we  got  up  at  six,  and  I  acted  in  ac 
cordance  with  that  view.  Breakfasted  as  the  sun 
was  shining  above  the  tree-tops,  and  to  my  blind 
— found  there  was  no  shooting  at  all — got  one 
shot  only,  and  killed  a  splendid  canvas-back — on 
returning  to  home,  found  nearly  all  the  party  on 
the  move — 140  ducks  hanging  round  the  house, 
the  reward  of  our  toils,  and  of  these  I  received 
egregious  share.  Drove  back  with  Pennington, 
very  sleepy,  followed  by  Mr.  Taylor  and  Lamy. 
I  would  have  stayed  longer  if  sport  were  better. 
Birds  don't  fly  when  the  wind  is  in  certain  points, 
but  lie  out  in  great  "ricks,"  as  they  are  called, 
blackening  the  waters,  drifting  in  the  wind,  or 
with  wings  covering  their  heads — poor  defence 
less  things !  The  red-head  waits  alongside  the 
canvas-back  till  he  comes  up  from  the  depths 
with  mouth  or  bill  full  of  parsley  and  wild  celery, 
when  he  makes  at  him  and  forces  him  to  dis 
gorge.  At  Baltimore  at  1.30 — dined — Lamy  re 
solved  to  stay — bade  good-bye  to  Swan  and 
Morris.  The  man  at  first  would  not  take  my 
ducks  and  boots  to  register  or  check  them — 
twenty-five  cents  did  it.  I  arrived  at  Washing 
ton  late,  because  of  detention  of  train  bjr  enor 
mous  transport ;  labelled  and  sent  out  game  to 
the  houses  till  James's  fingers  ached  again.  No 
thing  doing,  except  that  General  Scott  has  at 
last  sent  in  resignation.  M'Clellan  is  now  in 
deed  master  of  the  situation.  And  so  to  bed, 
rather  tired. 


CHAPTER  LVIIL 

General  Scott's  resignation— Mrs.  A.  Lincoln— Unofficial 
mission  to  Europe — Uneasy  feeling  with  regard  to 
France — Ball  given  by  the  United  States  cavalry — 
The  United  States  array— Success  at  Beaufort— Arrests 
—Dinner  at  Mr.  Seward's— News  of  Captain  Wilkes 
and  the  Trent — Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell — Discussion 
as  to  Wilkes — Prince  de  Joinville — The  American 
on  the  Trent  affair— Absence  of  thieves  in  Washington 
— "Thanksgiving  Day" — Success  thus  far  in  favour  of 
the  North. 

November  1st. — Again  stagnation ;  not  the 
smallest  intention  of  moving;  General  Scott's 
resignation,  of  which  I  was  aware  long  ago,  in 
publicly  known,  and  he  is  about  to  go  to  Europe, 
and  <fcd  his  days  probably  in  France.  M'Clellan 
takes  his  place,  minus  the  large  salary.  Riding 
back  from  camp,  where  I  had  some  trouble  with 
a  drunken  soldier,  my  horse  came  down  in  a 
dark  hole,  and  threw  me  heavily,  so  that  my  hat 
was  crushed  in  on  my  head,  and  my  right  thumb 
sprained,  but  I  managed  to  get  up  and  ride  home ; 


210 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


for  the  brute  had  fallen  right  on  his  own  head, 
cut  a  piece  out  of  his  forehead  between  the  eyes, 
and  was  stunned  too  much  to  run  away.  I  found 
letters  waiting  from  Mr.  Seward  and  others, 
thanking  me  for  the  game,  if  canvas-backs  come 
under  the  title. 

November  2nd. — A  tremendous  gale  of  wind 
and  rain  blew  all  day,  and  caused  much  uneasi 
ness,  at  the  Navy  Department' and  elsewhere,  for 
the  safety  of  the  Burnside  expedition.  The  Se 
cessionists  are  delighted,  and  those  who  can,  say 
"Afflavit  Deus  et  hostes  dissipantur."  There  is 
a  project  to  send  secret  non-official  commissioners 
to  Europe,  to  counteract  the  machinations  of  the 
Confederates.  Mr.  Everett,  Mr.  R.  Kennedy, 
Bishop  Hughes,  and  Bishop  M'llwaine  are  desig 
nated  for  the  office ;  much  is  expected  from  the 
expedition,  not  only  at  horn  *  but  abroad. 

November  3rd. — For  some  reason  or  another,  a 
certain  set  of  papers  have  lately  taken  to  flatter 
Mrs.  Lincoln  in  the  most  noisome  manner,  whilst 
others  deal  in  dark  insinuations  against  her  loyal 
ty,  Union  principles,  and  honesty.  The  poor  lady 
is  loyal  as  steel  to  her  family  and  to  Lincoln  the 
first ;  but  she  is  accessible  to  the  influence  of  flat 
tery,  and  has  permitted  her  society  to  be  infested 
by  men  who  would  not  be  received  in  any 
respectable  private  house  in  New  York.  The 
gentleman  who  furnishes  fashionable  paragraphs 
for  the  Washington  paper  has  some  charming  lit 
tle  pieces  of  gossip  about  u  the  first  Lady  in  the 
Land  "  this  week ;  he  is  doubtless  the  same  who, 
some  weeks  back,  chronicled  the  details  of  a  raid 
on  the  pigs  in  the  streets  by  the  police,  and  who 
concluded  thus :  "  We  cannot  but  congratulate 
Officer  Smith  on  the  very  gentlemanly  manner  in 
which  he  performed  his  disagreeable  but  arduous 
duties;  nor  did  it  escape  our  notice,  that  Officer 
Washington  Jones  was  likewise  active  and  ener 
getic  in  the  discharge  of  his  functions." 

The  ladies  in  Washington  delight  to  hear  or  to 
invent  small  scandals  connected  with  the  White 
House ;  thus  it  is  reported  that  the  Scotch  gar 
dener  left  by  Mr.  Buchanan  has  been  made  a 
lieutenant  in  the  United  States  Army,  and  has 
been  specially  detached  to  do  duty  at  the  White 
House,  where  he  superintends  the  cooking. 
Another  person  connected  with  the  establishment 
was  mAde  Commissioner  of  Public  Buildings,  but 
was  dismissed  because  he  would  not  put  down 
the  expense  of  a  certain  state  dinner  to  the  pub 
lic  account,  and  charge  it  under  the  head  of  "  Im 
provement  to  the  Grounds."  But  many  more 
better  tales  than  these  go  round,  and  it  is  not  sur 
prising  if  a  woman  is  now  and  then  put  under 
close  arrest,  or  sent  off  to  Fort  M'Henry  for  too 
much  esprit  and  inventiveness. 

November  4th. — General  Fremont  will  certainly 
be  recalled.  There  is  not  the  smallest  incident  to 
note. 

November  5th. — Small  banquets,  very  simple  and 
tolerably  social,  are  the  order  of  the  day  as  winter 
closes  around  us ;  the  country  has  become  too 
deep  in  mud  for  pleasant  excursions,  and  at  times 
the  weather  is  raw  and  cold.  General  M 'Do well, 
who  dined  with  us  to-day,  maintains  them  will 
be  no  difficulty  in  advancing  during  bad  weather, 
because  the  men  are  so  expert  in  felling  trees, 
they  can  make  corduroy  roads  wherever  they 
like.  I  own  the  arguments  surprised  but  did  not 
convince  me,  and  1  think  the  General  will  find 
out  his  mistake  when  the  time  comes.  Mr. 


Everett,  whom  I  had  expected,  was  summoned 
away  by  the  unexpected  intelligence  of  his  son's 
death,  so  I  missed  the  opportunity  of  seeing  one 
whom  I  much  desired  to  have  met,  as  the  great 
Apostle  of  Washington  worship,  in  addition  to  his 
claims  to  higher  distinction.  He  has  admitted 
that  the  only  bond  which  can  hold  the  Union 
together  is  the  common  belief  in  the  greatness  of 
the  departed  general. 

November  6th. — Instead  of  Mr.  Everett  and 
Mr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  and  Bishop 
Hughes  will  pay  a  visit  to  Europe  in  the  Federal 
interests.  Notwithstanding  the  adulation  of 
everything  French,  from  the  Emperor  down  to  a 
Zouave's  gaiter,  in  the  New  York  press  there  is 
an  uneasy  feeling  respecting  the  intentions  of 
France,  founded  on  the  notion  that  the  Emperor 
is  not  very  friendly  to  the  Federalists,  and  would 
be  little  disposed  to  expose  his  subjects  to  priva 
tion  and  suffering  from  the  scarcity  of  cotton  and 
tobacco  if,  by  intervention,  he  could  avert  such 
misfortunes.  The  inactivity  of  M'Clellan,  which 
is  not  understood  by  the  people,  has  created  an 
under-current  of  unpopularity,  to  which  his 
enemies  are  giving  every  possible  strength,  and 
some  people  are  beginning  to  think  the  youthful 
Napoleon  is  only  a  Brummagem  Bonaparte. 

November  1th. — After  such  bad  weather,  the 
Indian  summer,  lete  de  St.  Martin,  is  coming 
gradually,  lighting  up  the  ruins  of  the  autumn's 
foliage  still  clinging  to  the  trees,  giving  us  pure, 
bright,  warm  days,  and  sunsets  of  extraordinary 
loveliness.  Drove  out  to  Bladensburgh  with 
Captain  Haworth,  and  discovered  that  my  wag 
gon  was  intended  to  go  on  to  Richmond  and 
never  to  turn  back  or  round,  for  no  roads  in  this 
part  of  the  country  are  wide  enough  for  the  pur 
pose.  Dined  at  the  Legation,  and  in  the  evening 
went  to  a  grand  ball,  given  by  the  6th  United 
States  Cavalry  in  the  Poor  House  near  their 
camp,  about  two  miles  outside  the  city. 

The  ball  took  place  in  a  series  of  small  white 
washed  rooms  off  long  passages  and  corridors ; 
many  supper  tables  were  spread ;  whisky,  cham 
pagne,  hot  terrapin  soup,  and  many  luxuries 
graced  the  board ;  and  although  but  two  or  three 
couple  could  dance  in  each  room  at  a  time,  by 
judicious  arrangement  of  the  music  several  rooms 
were  served  at  once.  The  Duke  of  Chartres,  in 
the  uniform  of  a  United  States  Captain  of  Staff, 
was  among  the  guests,  and  had  to  share  the 
ordeal  to  which  strangers  were  exposed  by  the 
hospitable  entertainers,  of  drinking  with  them 
all.  Some  called  him  "  Chatters  " — others,  "Cap 
tain  Chatters;"  but  these  were  of  the  outside 
polloi,  who  cannot  be  kept  out  on  such  occasions, 
and  who  shake  hands  and  are  familiar  with  every 
body. 

The  Duke  took  it  all  exceedingly  well,  and 
laughed  with  the  loudest  in  the  company.  Alto 
gether  the  ball  was  a  great  success — somewhat 
marred  indeed  in  my  own  case  by  the  bad  taste 
of  one  of  the  officers  of  the  regiment  which  had 
invited  me,  in  adopting  an  offensive  manner 
when  about  to  be  introduced  to  me  by  one  of 
his  brother  officers.  Colonel  Emory,  the  officer 
in  command  of  the  regiment,'  interfered,  and, 
finding  that  Captain  A was  not  sober,  order 
ed  him  to  retire.  Another  small  contretemps  was 
caused  by  the  master  of  the  Work  House,  who 
had  been  indulging  at  least  as  freely  as  the  cap 
tain,  and  at  last  began  to  fancy  that  the  paupers 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


211 


had  broken  loose  and  were  dancing  about  after 
hours  below  stairs.  In  vain  he  was  led  away 
and  incarcerated  in  one  room  after  another ;  his 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  architectural  difficulties 
of  the  building  enabled  him  to  set  all  precautions 
at  defiance,  and  he  might  be  seen  at  intervals 
flying  along  the  passages  towards  the  music 
pursued  by  the  officers,  until  he  was  finally 
secured  in  a  dungeon  without  a  window,  and 
with  a.  bolted  and  locked  door  between  him  and 
the  ball-rooms. 

November  8th. — Colonel  Emory  made  us  laugh 
this  morning  by  an  account  of  our  Amphytrion  of 
the  night  before,  who  came  to  him  with  a  very  red 
eye  and  curious  expression  of  face  to  congratulate 
the  regiment  on  the  success  of  the  ball.  "  The 
most  beautiful  thing  of  all  was."  said  he, — "  Colo 
nel,  I  did  not  see  one  gentleman  or  fedy  who  had 
taken  too  much  liquor ;  there  was  not  a  drunken 
man  in  the  whole  company."  I  consulted  my 
friends  at  the  Legation  with  respect  to  our  ine 
briated  officer,  on  whose  behalf  Colonel  Emory 
tendered  his  own  apologies;  but  they  were  of 
opinion  I  had  done  all  that  was  right  and  becom 
ing  in  the  matter,  and  that  I  must  take  no  more 
notice  of  it. 

November  9th. — Colonel  Wilmot,  R.  A.,  who 
has  come  down  from  Canada  to  see  the  army, 
spent  the  day  with  Captain  Dahlgren  at  the 
Navy  Yard,  and  returned  with  impressions  fa 
vourable  to  the  system.  He  agrees  with  Dahl 
gren,  who  is  dead  against  breech-loading,  but 
admits  Armstrong  has  done  the  most  that  can  be 
effected  with  the  system.  Colonel  Wilmot  avers 
the  English  press  are  responsible  for  the  Arm 
strong  guns.  He  has  been  much  struck  by  the 
excellence  of  the  great  iron- works  he  has  visited 
in  the  States,  particularly  that  of  Mr.  Sellers,  in 
Philadelphia. 

November  Wth. — Visiting  Mr.  Mure  the  other 
day,  who  was  still  an  invalid  at  "Washington,  I 
met  a  gentleman  named  Maury,  who  had  come  to 
Washington  to  see  after  a  portmanteau  which  had 
'  been  taken  from  him  on  the  Canadian  frontier  by 
the  police.  He  was  told  to  go  to  the  State  De 
partment  and  claim  his  property,  and  on  arriving 
there  was  arrested  and  confined  with  a  number 
of  prisoners,  my  horse-dealing  friend,  Sammy 
Wroe,  among  them.  We  walked  down  to  inquire 
how  he  was  ;  the  soldier  who  was  on  duty  gave 
a  flourishing  account  of  him — he  had  plenty  of 
whiskey  and  food,  and,  said  the  man,  "  I  quite 
feel  for  Maury,  because  he  does  business  in  my 
State."  These  State  influences  must  be  over 
come,  or  no  Union  will  ever  hold  together. 

Sir  James  Ferguson  and  Mr.  Bourke  were 
rather  shocked  when  Mr.  Seward  opened  the 
letters  from  persons  in  the  South  to  friends  in 
Europe,  of  which  they  had  taken  charge,  and  cut 
some  passages  out  with  a  scissors ;  but  a  Minis 
ter  who  combines  the  functions  of  Chief-of- Police 
with  those  of  Secretary  of  State  must  do  such 
things  now  and  then. 

November  llth. — The  United  States  have  now, 
according  to  the  returns,  600,000  infantry,  600 
pieces  of  artillery,  61,000.  cavalry  in  the  field,  and 
yet  they  are  not  only  unable  to  crush  the  Confe 
derates,  but  they  cannot  conquer  the  Secession 
ladies  in  their  capital.  The  Southern  people  here 
trust  in  a  break-down  in  the  North  before  the 
screw  can  be  turned  to  the  utmost ;  and  assert 
that  the  South  does  not  want  corn,  wheat,  leather, 


or  food.  Georgia  makes  doth  enough  for  all — 
the  only  deficiency^  will  be  in  metal  and  materiel 
of  war.  When  the  North  comes  to  discuss  the 
question  whether  the  war  is  to  be  against  slavery 
or  for  the  Union,  leaving  slavery  to  take  care  of 
itself,  they  think  a  split  will  be  inevitable.  Then 
the  pressure  of  taxes  will  force  on  a  solution,  for 
the  State  taxes  already  amount  to  2  to  3 "per 
cent,  and  the  people  will  not  bear  the  addition. 
The  North  has  set  out  with  the  principle  of  pay 
ing  for  everything,  the  South  with  the  principle 
of  paying  for  nothing ;  but  this  will  be  reversed, 
in  time.  All  the  diplomatists,  with  one  excep 
tion,  are  of  opinion  the  Union  is  broken  for  ever, 
and  the  independence  of  the  South  virtually 
established. 

November  12th. — An  irruption  of  dirty  little 
boys  in  the  streets  shouting  out,  "  Glorious  Union 
victory  !  Charleston  taken  1"  The  story  is  that 
Burnside  has  landed  and  reduced  the  forts  defend 
ing  Port  Royal.  I  met  Mr.  Fox,  Assistant-Secre 
tary  to  the  Navy,  and  Mr.  Hay,  Secretary  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  in  the  Avenue.  The  former  showed 
me  Burnside's  despatches  from  Beaufort,  announc 
ing  reduction  of  the  Confederate  batteries  by  the 
ships  and  the  establishment  of  the  Federals  on 
the  skirts  of  Port  Royal.  Dined  at  Lord  Lyons', 
where  were  Mr.  Chase,  Major  Palmer,  U.S.E.,  and 
his  wife,  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Emory,  Professor 
Henry  and  his  daughter,  Mr.  Kennedy  and  his 
daughter,  Colonel  Wilmot  and  the  Englishry  of 
Washington.  I  had  a  long  conversation  with 
Mr.  Chase,  who  is  still  sanguine  that  the  war 
must  speedily  terminate.  The  success  at  Beau 
fort  has  made  him  radiant,  and  he  told  me  that 
the  Federal  General  Nelson  * — who  is  no  other 
than  the  enormous  blustering,  boasting  lieutenant 
in  the  navy  whom  I  met  at  Washington  on  my 
first  arrival — has  gained  an  immense  victory  in 
Kentucky,  killing  and  capturing  a  whole  army 
and  its  generals. 

A  strong  Government  will  be  the  end  of  the 
struggle,  but  before  they  come  to  it  there  must 
be  a  complete  change  of  administration  aryl  inter 
nal  economy.  Indeed,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  candidly  admitted  that  the  expenses  of 
the  war  were  enormous,  and  could  not  go  on  at 
the  present  rate  very  long.  The  men  are  paid 
too  highly ;  every  one  is  paid  too  much.  The 
scale  is  adapted  to  a  small  army  not  very  popu 
lar,  in  a  country  where  labour  is  very  well  paid, 
and  competition  is  necessary  to  obtain  recruits  at 
all.  He  has  never  disguised  his  belief  the  South 
might  have  been  left  to  go  at  first,  with  a  cer 
tainty  of  their  return  to  the  Union. 

November  13th. — Mr.  Charles  Green,  who  was 
my  host  at  Savannah,  and  Mr.  Low,  of  the  same 
city,  have  been  arrested  and  sent  to  Fort  Warren. 
Dining  with  Mr.  Seward,  I  heard  accidentally 
that  Mrs.  Low  had  also  been  arrested,  but  wag 
now  liberated.  The  sentiment  of  dislike  towards 
England  is  increasing,  because  English  subjects 
have  assisted  the  South  by  smuggling  and  run 
ning  the  blockade.  "It  is  strange,"  said  Mr. 
Seward  the  other  day,  "  that  this  great  free  and 
civilized  Union  should  be  supported  by  Germans, 
coming  here  semi-civilized  or  half-savage,  who 
plunder  and  destroy  as  if  they  were  living  in  the 
days  of  Agricola,  whilst  the  English  are  the 
great  smugglers  who  support  our  enemies  in 

*  Since  shot  dead  by  the  Federal  General  Jeff.  G.  Davis 
in  a  quarrel  at  Nashville. 


212 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


their  rebellion."  I  reminded  him  that  the  United 
States  flag  had  covered  the  smugglers  who 
carried  guns  and  materiel  of  war  to  Russia, 
although  they  were  at  peace  with  Prance  and 
England.  "Yes,  but  then,"  said  he,  "that  was 
a  legitimate  contest  between  great  established 
powers,  and  I  admit,  though  I  lament  the  fact, 
tha*  the  public  sympathy  in  this  country  ran  with 
Russia  during  that  war."  The  British  public 
have  a  right  to  their  sympathies  too,  and  the 
Government  can  scarcely  help  it  if  private  indi 
viduals  aid  the  South  on  their  own  responsibility. 
*In  future,  British  subjects  will  be  indicted  instead 
of  being  sent  to  Fort  La  Fayette.  Mr.  Seward 
feels  keenly  the  attacks  in  the  New  York  Tribune 
on  him  for  arbitrary  arrests,  and  representations 
have  been  made  to  Mr.  Greeley  privately  on  the 
subject ;  nor  is  he  indifferent  to  similar  English 
criticisms. 

General  M'Dowell  asserts  there  is  no  nation  in 
the  world  whose  censure  or  praise  the  people  of 
the  United  States  care  about  except  England, 
and  with  respect  to  her  there  is  a  morbid  sensi 
tiveness  which  can  neither  be  explained  nor 
justified. 

It  is  admitted,  indeed,  by  Americans  whose 
opinions  are  valuable,  that  the  popular  feeling 
was  in  favour  of  Russia  during  the  Crimean  war. 
Mr.  Raymond  attributes  the  circumstance  to  the 
influence  of  the  large  Irish  element ;  but  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  it  is  partly  due  at  least  to  the 
feeling  of  rivalry  and  dislike  to  Great  Britain,  in 
which  the  mass  of  the  American  people  are  trained 
by  their  early  education,  and  also  in  some  mea 
sure  to  the  notion  that  Russia  was  unequally 
matched  in  the  contest. 

November  14th. — Rode  -to  cavalry  camp,  and 
sat  in  front  of  Colonel  Emory's  tent  with  General 
Stoneman,  who  is  chief  of  the  cavalry,  and  Cap 
tain  Pleasanton ;  heard  interesting  anecdotes  of  the 
wild  life  on  the  frontiers,  and  of  bushranging  in 
California,  of  lassoing  bulls  and  wild  horses  and 
buffaloes,  and  encounters  with  grizly  bears — 
interrupted  by  a  one-armed  man,  who  came  to 
the  Cofbnel  for  "leave  to  take  away  George." 
He  spoke  of  his  brother  who  had  died  in  camp, 
and  for  whose  body  he  had  come,  metallic  coffin 
and  all,  to  carry  it  back  to  his  parents  in  Pennsyl 
vania. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  Seward — Mr.  Raymond,  of 
New  York,  and  two  or  three  gentlemen,  being 
the  only  guests.  Mr.  Lincoln  came  in  whilst  we 
were  playing  a  rubber,  and  told  some  excellent 
West-country  stories.  "  Here,  Mr.  President,  we 
have  got  the  two  Times — of  New  York  and 
of  London — if  they  would  only  do  what  is  right 
and  what  we  want,  all  will  go  well."  "Yes," 
said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "if  the  bad  Times  would  go 
where  we  want  them,  good  Times  would  be  sure 
to  follow."  Talking  over  Bull's  Run,  Mr.  Seward 
remarked  "that  civilians  .sometimes  displayed 
more  courage  than  soldiers,  but  perhaps  the 
courage  was  unprofessional.  When  we  were 
cut  off  from  Baltimore,  and  the  United  States 
troops  at  Annapolis  were  separated  by  a  country 
swarming  with  malcontents,  not  a  soldier  could 
be  found  to  undertake  the  journey  and  communi 
cate  with  them.  At  last  a  civilian" — (I  think  he 
mentioned  the  name  of  Mr.  Cassius  Clay) — 
"  volunteered,  and  executed  the  business.  So, 
after  Bull's  Run,  there  was  only  one  officer, 
General  Sherman,  who  was  doing  anything  to 


get  the  troops  into  order  when  the  President  and 
myself  drove  over  to  see  what  we  could  do  on 
that  terrible  Tuesday  evening."  Mr.  Teakle 
Wallis  and  others,  after  the  Baltimore  business, 
told  him  the  people  would  carry  his  head  on  their 
pikes ;  and  so  he  went  to  Auburn  to  see  how  mat 
ters  stood,  and  a  few  words  from  his  old  friends 
there  made  him  feel  his  head  was  quite  right  on 
his  shoulders. 

November  15th. — Horse-dealers  are  the  same 
all  the  world  over.  To-day  comes  one  with  a 
beast  for  which  he  asked  £50.  "There  was  a 
Government  agent  looking  after  this  horse  for  one 
of  them  French  princes,  I  believe,  just  as  I  was 
talking  to  the  Kentuck  chap  that  had  him. 
1  John,'  says  he,  '  that's  the  best-looking  horse  I've 
seen  in  Washington  this  many  a  day.'  'Yes,' 
says  I, '  and -you  need  not  look  at  him  any  more.' 
'Why?'  says  he.  'Because,'  says  I,  'it's  one 
that  I  want  for  Lord  John  Russell,  of  the  London 
Times,'  says  I,  'and  if  ever  there  was  a  man 
suited  for  a  horse,  or  a  horse  that  was  suited  for 
a  man,  they're  the  pair,  and  I'll  give  every  cent 
I  can  raise  to  buy  my  friend,  Lord  Russell,  that 
horse.'  "  I  could  not  do  less  than  purchase,  at  a 
small  reduction,  a  very  good  animal  thus  recom 
mended. 

November  16th. — A  cold,  raw  day.  As  I  was 
writing,  a  small  friend  of  mine,  who  appears  like 
a  stormy  petrel  in  moments  of  great  storm,  flut 
tered  into  my  room,  and  having  chirped  out  some 
thing  about  a  "Jolly  row" — "Seizure  of  Mason 
and  Slidell"— "  British  flag  insulted,"  and  the  like, 
vanished.  Somewhat  later,  going  down  17th 
Street,  I  met  the  French  Minister,  M.  Mercier. 
wrapped  in  his  cloak,  coming  from  the  British  Le 
gation.  "Yous  avez  entendu  quelqu'  chose  de 
nouveau?"  "  Mais  non,  excellence."  And  then, 
indeed,  I  learned  there  was  no  doubt  about  the 
fact  that  Captain  Wilkes,  of  the  U.  S.  steamer  San 
Jaciuto,  had  forcibly  boarded  the  Trent,  British 
mail  steamer,  off  the  Bahamas,  and  had  taken 
Messrs.  Mason,  Slidell,  Eustis,  and  M 'demand 
from  on  board  by  armed  force,  in  defiance  of  the  • 
protests  of  the  captain  and  naval  officer  in  charge 
of  the  mails.  This  was  indeed  grave  intelligence, 
and  the  French  Minister  considered  the  act  a  fla 
grant  outrage,  which  could  not  for  a  moment  be 
justified. 

I  went  to  the  Legation,  and  found  the  young 
diplomatists  in  the  "  Chancellerie''  as  demure  and 
innocent  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  though  per 
haps  they  were  a  trifle  more  lively  than  usual.  ( 
An  hour  later,  and  the  whole  affair  was  published 
in  full  in  the  evening  papers.  Extraordinary  ex 
ultation  prevailed  in  the  hotels  and  bar-rooms. 
The  State  Department  has  made  of  course  no 
communication  respecting  the  matter.  All  the 
English  are  satisfied  that  Mason  and  his  friends 
must  be  put  on  board  an  English  mail  packet 
from  the  San  Jacinto  under  a  salut* 

An  officer  of  the  United  States  navy — whose 
name  I  shall  not  mention  here — came  in  to  see 
the  buccaneers,  as  the  knot  of  English  bachelors 
of  Washington  are  termed,  and  talk  over  the  mat 
ter.  "Of  course,"  he  said,  "we  shall  apologize 
and  give  up  poor  Wilkes  to  vengeance  by  dis 
missing  him,  but  under  no  circumstance  shall  we 
ever  give  up  Mason  and  Slidell.  No,  sir ;  not  a 
man  dare  propose  such  a  humiliation  to  our  flag." 
He  says  that  Wilkes  acted  on  his  own  responsi 
bility,  and  that  the  San  Jacinto  was  coming  home 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


213 


from  the  African  station  when  she  encountered 
the  Trent.  Wilkes  knew  the  rebel  emissaries 
were  on  board,  and  thought  he  would  cut  a  dash 
and  get  up  a  little  sensation,  being  a  bold  and 
daring  sort  of  a  fellow  with  a  quarrelsome  dispo 
sition  and  a  great  love  of  notoriety,  but  an  excel 
lent  officer. 

November  llth. — For  my  sins  I  went  to  see  a 
dress  parade  of  the  6th  Regular  Cavalry  early 
this  morning,  and  underwent  a  small  purgatory 
from  the  cold,  on  a  bare  plain,  whilst  the  men  and 
officers,  with  red  cheeks  and  blue  noses,  mounted 
m  horses  with  staring  coats,  marched,  trotted, 
md  cantered  past.  The  papers'  contain  joyous 
irticles  on  the  Trent  affair,  and  some  have  got  up 
an  immense  amount  of  learning  at  a  short  no 
tice  ;  but  I  am  glad  to  say  we  had  no  discussion 
in  camp.  There  is  scarcely  more  than  one  opi 
nion  among  thinking  people  in  "Washington  re 
specting  the  legality  of  the  act,  and  the  course 
Great  Britain  must  pursue.  All  the  Foreign  Mi 
nisters,  without  exception,  have  called  on  Lord 
Lyons— Russia,  France,  Italy,  Prussia,  Denmark. 
All  are  of  accord.  I  am  not  sure  whether  the 
important  diplomatist  who  represents  the  mighty 
interests  of  the  Hanse  Towns  has  not  condescend 
ed  to  admit  England  has  right  on  her  side. 

November  18th. — There  is  a  storm  of  exultation 
sweeping  over  the  land.  "Wilkes  is  the  hero  of 
the  hour.  I  saw  Mr.  F.  Seward  at  the  State  De 
partment  at  ten  o'clock ;  but  as  at  the  British  Le 
gation  the  orders  are  not  to  speak  of  the  transac 
tion,  so  at  the  State  Department  a  judicious  reti 
cence  is  equally  observed.  The  lawyers  are  busy 
furnishing  arguments  to  the  newspapers.  The 
officers  who  held  their  tongues  at  first,  astonished 
at  the  audacity  of  the  act,  are  delighted  to  find 
any  arguments  in  its  favour. 

I  called  at  General  M'Clellan's  new  head-quar 
ters  to  get  a  pass,  and  on  my  way  met  the  Duke 
of  Chartres,  who  shook  his  young  head  very 
gravely,  and  regarded  the  occurrence  with  sorrow 
and  apprehension.  M'Clellan,  I  understand,  ad 
vised  the  immediate  surrender  of  the  prisoners ; 
but  the  authorities,  supported  by  the  sudden  out 
burst  of  public  approval,  refused  to  take  that  step. 
I  saw  Lord  Lyons,  who  appeared  very  much  im 
pressed  by  the  magnitude  of  the  crisis.  Thence 
I  visited  the  Navy  Department,  where  Captain 
Dahlgren  and  Lieutenant  "Wise  discussed  the  af 
fair.  The  former,  usually  so  calm,  has  too  much 
sense  not  to  perceive  the  course  England  must 
take,  and  as  an  American  officer  naturally  feels 
regret  at  what  appears  to  be  the  humiliation  of 
his  flag ;  but  he  speaks  with  passion,  and  vows 
that  if  England  avails  herself  of  the  temporary 
weakness  of  tho  United  States  to  get  back  the 
rebel  commissioners  by  threats  of  force,  every 
American  should  make  his  sons  swear  eternal 
hostility  to  Great  Britain.  Having  done  wrong, 
stick  to  it !  Thus  men's  anger  blinds  them,  and 
thus  come  wars. 

.  It  is  obvious  that  no  Power  could  permit  po 
litical  offenders  sailing  as  passengers  in  a  mail- 
boat  under  its  flag,  from  one  neutral  port  to  an 
other,  to  be  taken  by  a  belligerent,  though  the 
recognition  of  such  a  'right  would  be,  perhaps, 
more  advantageous  to  England  than  to  any  other 
Power.  But,  notwithstanding  these  discussions, 
our  naval  friends  dined  and  spent  the  evening 
With  us,  in  company  with  some  other  officers. 

I  paid  my  respects  to  the  Prince  of  Joinville, 


with  whom  I  had  a  long  and  interesting  conver 
sation,  in  the  course  of  which  he  gave  me  to  un 
derstand  he  thought  the  seizure  an  untoward  and 
unhappy  event,  which  could  not  be  justified  on 
any  grounds  whatever,  and  that  he  had  so  ex 
pressed  himself  in  the  highest  quarters.  There 
are,  comparatively,  many  English  here  at  present ; 
Mr.  Chaplin,  Sir  F.  Johnstone,  Mr.  "Weldon,  Mr. 
Browne,  and  others,  and  it  may  be  readily  ima 
gined  this  affair  creates  deep  feeling  and  much 
discussion. 

November  \§th. — I  rarely  sat  down  to  write  un 
der  a  sense  of  greater  responsibility,  for  it  is  just 
possible  my  letter  may  contain  the  first  account 
of  the  seizure  of  the  Southern  Commissioners 
which  will  reach  England ;  and,  having  heard  all 
opinions  and  looked  at  authorities,  as  far  as  I 
could,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  conduct  of  the 
American  officer,  now  sustained  by  his  Govern 
ment,  is  without  excuse.  I  dined  at  Mr.  Corco- 
ran's,  where  the  Ministers  of  Prussia,  Brazil,  and 
Chili,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  French  Legation, 
were  present ;  and,  although  we  did  not  talk  poli 
tics,  enough  was  said  to  show  there  was  no  dis 
sent  from  the  opinion  expressed  by  intelligent 
arid  uninterested  foreigners. 

November  10th. — To-day  a  grand  review,  the 
most  remarkable  feature  of  which  was  the  able 
disposition  made  by  General  M 'Do  well  to  march 
seventy  infantry  regiments,  seventeen  batteries, 
and  seven  cavalry  regiments,  into  a  very  con 
tracted  space,  from  the  adjoining  camps.  Of  the 
display  itself  I  wrote  a  long  account,  which  is 
not  worth  repeating  here.  Among  the  55,000 
men  present  there  were  at  least  20,000  Germans 
and  12,000  Irish. 

November  22nd. — All  the  American  papers 
have  agreed  that  the  Trent  business  is  quite  ac 
cording  to  law,  custom,  and  international  comity, 
and  that  England  can  do  nothing.  They  cry  out 
so  loudly  in  this  one  key  there  is  reason  to  sus 
pect  they  have  some  inward  doubts.  General 
M'Clellan  invited  all  the  world,  including  myself, 
to  see  a  performance  given  by  Hermann,  the 
conjuror,  at  his  quarters,  which  will  be  aggravat 
ing  news  to  the  bloody-minded,  serious  people  in 
New  England. 

Day  after  day  passes  on,  and  finds  our  Micaw- 
bers  in  Washington  waiting  for  something  to 
turn  up.  The  Trent  affair,  having  been  proved 
to  be  legal  and  right  beyond  yea  or  nay,  has 
dropped  out  of  the  minds  of  all  save  those  who 
are  waiting  for  news  from  England ;  and  on  look 
ing  over  my  diary  I  can  see  nothing  but  memo 
randa  relating  to  quiet  rides,  visits  to  camps, 
conversations  with  this  one  or  the  other,  a  fresh 
outburst  of  anonymous  threatening  letters,  as  if 
I  had  anything  to  do  with  the  Trent  affair,  and 
notes  of  small  social  reunions  at  our  own  rooms 
and  the  "Washington  houses  which  were  open  to 
us. 

November  25iA. — I  remarked  the  other  evei^ 
ing  that,  with  all  the  disorder  in  "Washington, 
there  are  no  thieves.  Next  night,  as  we  were 
sitting  in  our  little  symposium,  a  thirsty  soldier 
knocked  at  the  door  for  a  glass  of  water.  He 
was  brought  in  and  civilly  treated.  Under  the 
date  of  the  27th,  accordingly,  I  find  it  duly  enter 
ed  that  u  the  vagabond  who  came  in  for  water 
must  have  had  a  confederate,  who  got  into  the 
hall  whilst  we  were  attending  to  his  comrade, 
for  yesterday  there  was  a  great  lamentation  over 


2H 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


cloaks  and  great-coats  missing  from  the  hall, 
and  as  the  day  wore  on  the  area  of  plunder  was 
extended.  Carl  discovers  he  has  been  robbed  of 
his  best  clothes,  and  Caroline  has  lost  her  watch 
and  many  petticoats." 

Thanksgiving  Day  on  the  28th  was  celebrated 
by  enormous  drunkenness  in  the  army.  The 
weather  varied  between  days  of  delicious  sum 
mer — soft,  bright,  balmy,  and  beautiful  beyond 
expression — and  days  of  wintry  storm,  with  tor 
rents  of  rain. 

Some  excitement  was  caused  at  the  end  of  the 
month  by  the  report  I  had  received  information 
from  England  that  the  law  officers  of  the  Crown 
had  given  it  as  their  opinion  that  a  United 
States  man-of-war  would  be  justified  by  Lord 
Stowell's  decisions  in  taking  Mason  and  Slidell 
even  in  the  British  Channel,  if  the  Nashville 
transferred  them  to  a  British  mail  steamer.  This 
opinion  was  called  for  in  consequence  of  the 
Tuscarora  appearing  in  Southampton  "Water; 
and,  having  heard  of  it,  I  repeated  it  in  strict 
confidence  to  some  one  else,  till  at  last  Baron 
de  Stoeckl  canoe  to  ask  me  if  it  was  true.  Re 
ceiving  passengers  from  the  Nashville,  however, 
would  have  been  an  act  of  direct  intercourse 
with  an  enemy's  ship.  In  the  case  of  the  Trent 
the  persons  seized  had  come  on  board  as  lawful 
passengers  at  a  neutral  port. 

The  tide  of  success  runs  strongly  in  favour  of 
the  North  at  present,  although  they  generally 
get  the  worst  of  it  in  the  small  affairs  in  the  front 
of  Washington.  The  entrance  to  Savannah  has 
been  occupied,  and  by  degrees  the  fleets  are  bit- 
mg  into  the  Confederate  lines  along  the  coast, 
and  establishing  positions  which  will  afford  bases 
of  operations  to  the  Federals  hereafter.  The 
President  and  Cabinet  seem  in  better  spirits,  and 
the  former  indulges  in  quaint  speculations,  which 
he  transfers  even  to  State  papers.  He  calculates, 
for  instance,  there  are  human  beings  now  alive 
who  may  ere  they  die  behold  the  United  States 
peopled  by  250  millions  of  souls.  Talking  of  a 
high  mound  on  the  prairie,  in  Illinois,  he  re 
marked,  "that  if  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
were  assembled  there,  a  man  standing  on  its  top 
would  see  them  all,  for  that  the  whole  human 
race  would  fit  on  a  space  twelve  miles  square, 
which  was  about  the  extent  of  the  plain." 


CHAPTER  LIX. 

A.  Captain  under  arrest — Opening  of  Congress— Colonel 
D'Utassy— An  ex-pugilist  turned  Senator— Mr.  Came 
ron — Ball  in  the  officers'  huts — Presentation  of  stand 
ards  at   Arlington — Dinner   at  Lord   Lyons' — Paper 
currency — A  polyglot  dinner — Visit  to  Washington's 
Tomb — Mr.  Chase's  Report — Colonel  Seaton — unani 
mity  of  the  South — The  Potomac  blockade — A  Dutch- 
/American    Crimean    acquaintance  —  The    American 
jU^awycrs  on   the   Trent  affair—Mr.  Sumner — M'Clel- 
1  lan's  Army — Impressions  produced  in  America  by  the 
^English  Press  on  the  affiiir  of  the  Trent— Mr.  Sumner 
f  on   the  crisis — Mutual   feelings   of  the  two  nations — 
Rumours  of  war  with  Great  Britain. 

December  1st  — A  mixed  party  of  American 
officers  and  English  went  to-day  to  the  post  at 
Great  Falls,  about  sixteen  or  seventeen  miles  up 
the  Potomac,  and  were  well  repaid  by  the 
charming  scenery,  and  by  a  visit  to  an  Ameri 
can  military  station  in  a  state  of  nature.  The 
captain  in  command  told  us  over  a  drink  that  he 
was  under  arrest,  because  he  had  refused  to  do 


duty  as  lieutenant  of  the  guard,  he  being  a  cap 
tain.  "But  I  have  written  to  M'Clellan  about 
it,"  said  he,  "  and  I'm  d — d  if  I  stay  under  arrest 
more  than  three  days  longer."  He  was  not  aware 
that  the  General's  brother,  who  is  a  captain  on 
his  staff,  was  sitting  beside  him  at  the  time. 
This  worthy  centurion  further  informed  us  he 
had  shot  a  man  dead  a  short  time  before  for 
disobeying  his  orders.  "  That  he  did,"  said  his 
sympathising  and  enthusiastic  orderly,  "  and 
there's  the  weapon  that  done  it."  The  captain 
was  a  boot  and  shoe  maker  by  trade,  and  had 
travelled  across  the  isthmus  before  the  railway 
was  made  to  get  orders  for  his  boots.  A  hard, 
determined,  fierce  "sutor,"  as  near  a  savage  as 
might  be. 

"And  what  will  you  do,  captain,"  asked  I, 
"if  they  keep  you  in  arrest?" 

"  Fight  for  it,  sir.  I'll  go  straight  away  into 
Pennsylvania  with  my  company,  and  we'll  whip 
any  two  companies  they  can  send  to  stop  us." 

Mr.  Sumner  paid  me  a  visit  on  my  return  from 
our  excursion,  and  seems  to  think  everything  is 
in  the  best  possible  state. 

December  2nd. — Congress  opened  to-day.  The 
Senate  did  nothing.  In  the  House  of  Represent 
atives  some  Buncombe  resolutions  were  passed 
about  Captain  Wilkes-  who  has  become  a  hero — 
"  a  great  interpreter  of  international  law,"  and 
also  recommending  that  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell 
be  confined  in  felons'  cells,  in  retaliation  for  Colo 
nel  Corcoran's  treatment  by  the  Confederates. 
M.  Blondel,  the  Belgian  minister,  who  was  at  the 
court  of  Greece  during  the  Russian  war,  told  me 
that  when  the  French  and  English  fleets  lay  in 
the  Pirasus,  a  United  States  vessel,  commanded, 
he  thinks,  by  Captain  Stringham,  publicly  re 
ceived  M.  Persani,  the  Russian  ambassador,  on 
board,  hoisted  and  saluted  the  Russian  flag  in  the 
harbour,  whereupon  the  French  Admiral,  Barbier 
de  Tinan,  proposed  to  the  English  Admiral  to  go 
on  board  the  United  States  vessel  and  seize  the 
ambassador,  which  the  British  officer  refused 
to  do. 

December  3rd. — Drove  down  to  the  Capitol, 
and  was  introduced  to  the  floor  of  the  Senate  by 
Senator  Wilson,  and  arrived  just  as  Mr.  Forney 
commenced  reading  the  President's  message, 
which  was  listened  to  with  considerable  interest. 
At  dinner,  Colonel  D'Utassy,  of  the  Garibaldi 
legion,  who  gives  a  curious  account  of  his  career. 
A  Hungarian  by  birth,  he  went  over  from  the 
Austrian  service,  and  served  under  Bern;  was 
wounded  and  taken  prisoner  at  Temesvar,  and 
escaped  from  Spielberg,  through  the  kindness  of 
Count  Benuigsen,  making  his  way  to  Semlin,  in 
the  disguise  of  a  servant,  where  M.  Fonblanque, 
the  British  consul,  protected  him.  Thence  he 
went  to  Kossuth  at  Shumla,  finally  proceeded  to 
Constantinople,  where  he  was  engaged  to  instruct 
the  Turkish  cavalry;  turned  up  in  the  Ionian 
Islands,  where  he  was  engaged  by  the  late  Si. 
H.  Ward,  as  a  sort  of  Secretary  and  Interpreter, 
in  which  capacity  he  also  served  Sir  G.  Le  Mai- 
chant.  In  the  United  States  he  was  earning  hi 
livelihood  as  a  fencing,  dancing,  and  languag 
master;  and  when  the  war  broke  out  he  exerte- 
himself  to  raise  a  regiment,  and  succeeded  in 
completing  his  number  in  seventeen  days,  being 
all  the  time  obliged  to  support  himself  by  his 
lessons.  I  tell  his  tale  as  he  told  it  to  me. 

One  of  our  friends,  of  a  sporting  turn,  dropped 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


215 


in  to-night,  followed  by  a  gentleman  dressed  in 
immaculate  black,  and  of  staid  deportment,  whose 
name  I  did  not  exactly  catch,  but  fancied  it  was 
that  of  a  senator  of  some  reputation.  As  the 
stranger  sat  next  me,  and  was  rubbing  his  knees 
nervously,  I  thought  I  would  commence  conver 
sation. 

"  It  appears,  sir,  that  affairs  in  the  south-west 
are  not  so  promising.  May  I  ask  you  what  is  your 
opinion  of  the  present  prospects  of  the  Federals 
in  Missouri?" 

I  was  somewhat  disconcerted  by  his  reply,  for 
rubbing  his  knees  harder  than  ever,  and  impre 
cating  his  organs  of  vision  in  a  very  sanguinary 
manner,  he  said — 

"  Well,  d if  I  know  what  to  think  of  them. 

They're  a  b rum  lot,  and  they're  going  on  in 

a  d rum  way.  That's  what  I  think." 

The  supposed  legislator,  in  fact,  was  distin 
guished  in  another  arena,  and  was  no  other  than 
a  celebrated  pugilist,  who  served  his  apprentice 
ship  in  the  English  ring,  and  has  since  graduated 
in  honours  in  America. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  Cameron,  Secretary-of-War, 
where  I  met  Mr.  Forney,  Secretary  of  the  Senate ; 
Mr.  House,  Mr.  Wilkeson,  and  others,  and  was 
exceedingly  interested  by  the  shrewd  conversa 
tion  and  candid  manner  of  our  host.  He  told  me 
he  once  worked  as  a  printer  in  the  city  of  Wash 
ington,  at  ten  dollars  a  week,  and  twenty  cents 
an  hour  for  extra  work  at  the  case  on  Sundays. 
Since  that  time  he  has  worked  onwards  and  up 
wards,  and  amassed  a. -large  fortune  by  contracts 
for  railways  and  similar  great  undertakings.  He 
says  the  press  rules  America,  and  that  no  one  can 
face  it  and  live ;  which  is  about  the  worst  account 
of  the  chances  of  an  honest  longevity  I  can  well 
conceive.  His  memory  is  exact,  and  his  anec 
dotes,  albeit  he  has  never  seen  any  but  Ameri 
cans,  or  stirred  out  of  the  States,  very  agreeable. 
Once  there  lived  at  Washington  a  publican's 
daughter,  named  Mary  O'Neil,  beautiful,  bold, 
and  witty.  She  captivated  a  Member  of  Con 
gress,  -who  failed  to  make  her  less  than  his  wife ; 
and  by  degrees  Mrs.  Eaton — who  may  now  be 
seen  in  the  streets  of  Washington,  an  old  woman, 
still  bright-eyed  and  alas !  bright  cheeked,  retain 
ing  traces  of  her  great  beauty — became  a  leading 
personage  in  the  State,  and  ruled  the  imperious, 
rugged,  old  Andrew  Jackson  so  completely,  that 
he  broke  up  his  Cabinet  and  dismissed  his  minis 
ters  on  her  account.  In  the  days  of  her  power 
she  had  done  some  trifling  service  to  Mr.  Came 
ron,  and  he  has  just  repaid  it  by  conferring  some 
military  appointment  on  her  grandchild. 

The  dinner,  which  was  preceded  by  deputa 
tions,  was  finished  by  one  which  came  from  the 
Far  .West,  and  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Hannibal 
Hamlin,  the  Vice-President ;  Mr.  Owen  Lovejoy, 
Mr.  Bingham,  and  other  ultra- Abolitionist  mem 
bers  of  Congress ;  and  then  speeches  were  made, 
and  healths  were  drunk,  and  toasts  were  pledged, 
till  it  was  time  for  me  to  drive  to  a  ball  given  by 
the  officers  of  the  5th  United  States  Cavalry, 
which  was  exceedingly  pretty,  and  admirably  ar 
ranged  in  wooden  huts,  especially  erected  and 
decorated  for  the  occasion.  A  huge  bonfire  in 
the  centre  of  the  camp,  surrounded  by  soldiers, 
by  the  carriage  drivers,  and  by  negro  servants, 
afforded  the  most  striking  play  of  colour  and  va 
riety  of  light  and  shade  I  ever  beheld. 

December  Wh. — To  Arlington,  where  Senator 


Ira  Harris  presented  flags — that  Is,  standards — 
to  a  cavalry  regiment  called  after  his  name ;  the 
President,  Mrs.  Lincoln,  ministers,  generals,  and 
a  large  gathering  present.  Mr.  Harris  made  a 
very  long  and  a  very  fierce  speech ;  it  could  not 
be  said  Ira  furor  brevis  est ;  and  Colonel  Davies, 
in  taking  the  standard,  was  earnest  and  lengthy 
in  reply.  Then  a  barrister  presented  colour  No. 
2,  in  a  speech  full  of  poetical  quotations,  to  which 
Major  Kilpatrick  made  an  excellent  answer. 
Though  it  was  strange  enough  to  hear  a  poli 
tical  disquisition  on  the  causes  of  the  rebellion 
from  a  soldier  in  full  uniform,  the  proceedings 
were  highly  theatrical  and  very  effective.  "  Take, 
then,  this  flag,"  &c. — "  Defend  it  with  your,"  &c. 
— "  Yes,  sir,  we,  will  guard  this  sacred  emblem 
with  — ,"  &c.  The  regiment  then  went  through 
some  evolutions,  which  were  brought  to  an  un 
timely  end  by  a  feu  de  joie  from  the  infantry  in 
the  rear,  which  instantly  broke  up  the  squadrons, 
and  sent  them  kicking,  plunging,  and  falling  over 
the  field,  to  the  great  amusement  of  the  crowd. 

Dined  with  Lord  Lyons,  where  was  Mr.  Gait, 
Financial  Minister  of  Canada ;  Mr.  Stewart,  who 
has  arrived  to  replace  Mr.  Irvine,  and  others.  In 
our  rooms,  a  grand  financial  discussion  took  place 
in  honour  of  Mr.  Gait,  between  Mr.  Butler  Dun 
can  and  others,  the  former  maintaining  that  a 
general  issne  of  national  paper  was  inevitable.  A 
very  clever  American  maintained  that  the  North 
will  be  split  into  two  great  parties  by  the  result 
of  the  victory  which  they  are  certain  to  gain  over 
the  South — that  the  Democrats  will  offer  the 
South  concessions  more  liberal  than  they  could 
ever  dream  of,  and  that  both  will  unite  againa 
the  Abolitionists  and  Black  Republicans. 

December  6th. — Mr.  Riggs  says  the  paper  cur 
rency  scheme  will  produce  money,  and  make 
every  man  richer.  He  is  a  banker,  and  ought  to 
know ;  but  to  my  ignorant  eye  it  seems  likely  to 
prove  most  destructive,  and  I  confess,  that  what 
ever  be  the  result  of  this  war,  I  have  no  desire 
for  the  ruin  of  so  many  happy  communities  as 
have  sprung  up  in  the  United  States.  Had  it 
been  possible  for  human  beings  to  employ  popu 
lar  institutions  without  intrigue  and  miserable 
self-seeking,  and  to  be  superior  to  faction  and 
party  passion,  the  condition  of  parts  of  the  United 
States  must  cause  regret  that  an  exemption  from 
the  usual  laws  which  regulate  human  nature 
was  not  made  in  America ;  but  the  strength  of 
the  United  States — directed  by  violent  passions, 
by  party  interest,  and  by  selfish  intrigues — was 
becoming  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  other  nations, 
and  therefore  there  is  an  utter  want  of  sympathy 
with  them  in  their  time  of  trouble. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  Gait,  at  Willard's,  where  we 
had  a  very  pleasant  party,  in  spite  of  financial 
dangers. 

December  *lth. — A  visit  to  the  Garibaldi  Guard 
with  some  of  the  Englishry,  and  an  excellent 
dinner  at  the  mess,  which  presented  a  curious 
scene,  and  was  graced  by  sketches  from  a  won 
derful  polyglot  chaplain.  What  a  company  1  — 
the  officers  present  were  composed  as  follows: — 
Five  Spaniards,  six  Poles  and  Hungarians,  two 
Frenchmen — the  most  soldierly-looking  men  at 
table — one  American,  four  Italians,  and  nine 
Teutons  of  various  States  in  Germany. 

December  8th. — A  certain  excellent  Colonel 
who  commands  a  French  regiment  visited  us  to 
day.  When  he  came  to  Washington,  one  of  the 


216 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Foreign  Ministers  who  had  been  well  acquainted 
with  him  said,  "  My  dear  Colonel,  what  a  pity  we 
can  be  no  longer  friends."  "  Why  so,  Baron?" 
"  Ah,  we  can  never  dine  together  again."  "  Why 
not?  Do  you  forbid  me  your  table?''  "No, 
Colonel,  but  how  can  I  invite  a  man  who  can 
command  the  services  of  at  least  200  cooks  in  his 
own  regiment  ?"  "  "Well  then,  Baron,  you  can 
come  and  dine  with  me."  "  What  I  how  do  you 
think  I  could  show  myself  in  your  camp — how 
could  I  get  my  hair  dressed  to  sit  at  the  table  of 
a  man  who  commands  300  coiffeurs?"  I  rode 
out  to  overtake  a  party  who  had  started  in  car 
riages  for  Mount  Vernon  to  visit  Washington's 
tomb,  but  missed  them  in  the  wonderfully  wooded 
countr}'  which  borders  the  Potomac,  and  returned 
alone. 

December  9th. — Spent  the  day  over  Mr.  Chase's 
report,  a  copy  of  which  he  was  good  enough  to 
send  me  with  a  kind  note,  and  went  out  in  the 
evening  with  my  head  in  a  state  of  wild  financial 
confusion,  and  a  general  impression  that  the 
financial  system  of  England  is  very  unsound. 

December  10th. — Paid  a  visit  to  Colonel  Seaton, 
of  the  National  Intelligencer,  a  man  deservedly 
respected  and  esteemed  for  his  private  character, 
which  has  given  its  impress  to  the  journal  he  has 
so  long  conducted.  The  New  York  pap.ers  ridi 
cule  the  Washington  organ,  because  it  does  not 
spread  false  reports  daily  in  the  form  of  tele 
graphic  "sensation"  news,  and  indeed  one  may 
be  pretty  sure  that  a  fact  is  a  fact  when  it  is 
found  in  the  Intelligencer ;  but  the  man,  neverthe 
less,  who  is  content  writh  the  information  he  gets 
from  it,  will  have  no  reason  to  regret,  in  the  ac 
curacy  of  his  knowledge  or  the  soundness  of  his 
views,  that  he  has  not  gone  to  its  noisy  and  men 
dacious  rivals.  In  the  minds  of  all  the  very  old 
men  in  the  States,  there  is  a  feeling  of  great  sad 
ness  and  despondency  respecting  the  present 
troubles,  and  though  they  cling  to  .the  idea  of 
a  restoration  of  the  glorious  Union  of  their  youth, 
it  is  hoping  against  hope.  "  Our  game  is  played 
out.  It  was  the  most  wonderful  and  magnificent 
career  of  success  the  world  ever  saw,  but  rogues 
and  gamblers  took  up  the  cards  at  last;  they 
quarrelled,  and  are  found  out." 

In  the  evening,  supped  at  Mr.  Forney's,  where 
there  was  a  very  large  gathering  of  gentlemen 
connected  with  the  press ;  Mr.  Cameron,  Secreta 
ry  of  War ;  Colonel  Mulligan,  a  tall  young  man, 
with  dark  hair  falling  on  his  shoulders,  round  a 
Celtic  impulsive  face,  and  a  hazy  enthusiastic- 
looking  eye ;  and  other  celebrities.  Terrapin 
soup  and  canvas-backs,  speeches,  orations,  music, 
and  song,  carried  the  company  onwards  among 
the  small  hours. 

December  llth. — The  unanimity  of  the  people 
in  the  South  is  forced  on  the  conviction  of  the 
statesmen  and  people  of  the  North,  by  the  very 
success  in  their  expeditions  in  Secession.  They 
find  the  planters  at  Beaufort  and  elsewhere  burn 
ing  their  cotton  and  crops,  villages  and  towns 
deserted  at  their  approach,  hatred  in  every  eye, 
and  curses  on  women's  tongues.  They  meet  this 
by  a  corresponding  change  in  their  own  pro 
gramme.  The  war  which  was  made  to  develop 
and  maintain  Union  sentiment  in  the  South,  and 
to  enable  the  people  to  rise  against  a  desperate 
faction  which  had  enthralled  them,  is  now  to  be 
made  a  crusade  against  slaveholders,  and  a  war 
of  subjugation — if  need  be,  of  extermination — 


against  the  whole  of  the  Southern  States.  The 
Democrats  will,  of  course,  resist  this  barbarous 
and  hopeless  policy.  There  is  a  deputation  of 
Irish  Democrats  here  now,  to  effect  a  general  ex 
change  of  prisoners,  which  is  an  operation  calcu 
lated  to  give  a  legitimate  character  to  the  war, 
and  is  pro  tanto  a  recognition  of  the  Confederacy 
as  a  belligerent  power. 

December  12th. — The  navy  are  writhing  under 
the  disgrace  of  the  Potomac  blockade,  and  deny 
it  exists.  The  price  of  articles  in  Washington 
which  used  to  come  by  the  river  affords  disagreea 
ble  proof  to  the  contrary,  fcnd  yet  there  is  not  a 
true  Yankee  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue  who  does 
not  believe,  what  he  reads  every  day,  that  his 
glorious  navy  could  sweep  the  fleets  of  France 
and  England  off  the  seas  to-morrow,  though  the 
Potomac  be  closed,  and  the  Confederate  batteries 
throw  their  shot  and  shell  into  the  Federal  camps 
on  the  other  side.  I  dined  with  General  Butter- 
field,  whose  camp  is  pitched  in  Virginia,  on  a 
knoll  and  ridge  from  which  a  splendid  view  can 
be  had  over  the  wooded  vales  and  hills  extending 
from  'Alexandria  towards  Manassas,  whitened 
with  Federal  tents  and  huts.  General  Fitz-John 
Porter  and  General  M 'Do well  were  among  the 
officers  present. 

December  12th. — A  big-bearded,  spectacled, 
moustachioed,  spurred,  and  booted  officer  threw 
himself  on  my  bed  this  morning  ere  I  was  awake. 
"Russell,  my  dear  friend,  here  you  are  at  last; 
what  ages  have  passed  since  we  met !"  I  sat  up 
and  gazed  at  rny  friend.-.  "BohlenI  don't  you 
remember  Bohlen,  and  our  rides  in  Turkey,  our 
visit  to  Shurnla  and  Pravady,  and  all  the  rest  of 
it  ?"  Of  course  I  did.  I  remembered  an  enthu 
siastic  soldier,  with  a  fine  guttural  voice,  and 
splendid  war  saddle  and  saddle-cloth,  and  bras* 
stirrups  and  holsters,  worked  with  eagles  all.  over 
and  a  uniform  coat  and  cap  with  more  eagles  fly 
ing  amidst  laurel  leaves  and  U.  S's  in  gold,  who 
came  out  to  see  the  fighting  in  the  East,  and 
made  up  his  mind  that  there  would  be  none,  when 
he  arrived  at  Varna,  and  sa  started  off  inconti 
nent  up  the  Danube,  and  returned  to  the  Crimea 
when  it  was  too  late ;  and  a  very  good,  kindly, 
warm-hearted  fellow  was  the  Dutch-American, 
who — once  more  in  his  war  paint,  this  time  act 
ing  Brigadier-General* — renewed  the  memories 
of  some  pleasant  days  far  away ;  and  our  talk 
was  of  cavasses  and  khans,  and  tchibouques,  and 
pashas,  till  his  time  was  up  to  return  to  his  fight 
ing  Germans  of  Bleuker's  division. 

He  was  not  the  good-natured  officer  who  said 
the  other  day,  "  The  next  day  you  come  down, 
sir,  if  my  regiment  happens  to  be  on  picket  duty, 
we'll  have  a  little  skirmish  with  the  enemy,  just 
to  show  you  how  our  fellows  are  improved." 
"  Perhaps  you  might  bring  on  a  general  action, 
Colonel."  "  Well,  sir,  we're  not  afraid  of  that, 
either!  Let 'em  come  on."  It  did  BO  happen 
that  some  young  friends  of  mine,  of  H.M.'s  30th, 
who  had  come  dbwn  from  Canada  to  see  the  army 
here,  went  out  a  day  or  two  ago  with  an  office? 
on  General  Smith's  staff,  formerly  in  our  army, 
who  yet  suffers  from  a  wound  received  at  the 
Alma,  to  have  a  look  at  the  enemy  with  a  detach 
ment  of  men.  The  enemy  came  to  have  a  look 
at  them,  whereby  it  happened  that  shots  were 
exchanged,  and  the  bold  Britons  had  to  ride  back 

*  Since  killed  in  action  in  Pope's  retreat  from  th* 
north  of  Richmond. 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


217 


as  hard  as  they  could,  for  their  men  skedaddled, 
and  the  Secession  cavalry  slipping  after  them,  had 
a  very  pretty  chase  for  some  miles ;  so  the  30th 
men  saw  more  than  they  bargained  for. 

Dined  at  Baron  Gerolt's,  where  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  Judge  Daly,  who  is  perfectly 
satisfied  the  English  lawyers  have  not  a  leg  to 
stand  upon  in  the  Trent  case.  On  the  faith  of 
old  and  very  doubtful,  and  some  purely  suppositi 
tious,  cases,  the  American  lawyers  have  made  up 
their  minds  that  the  seizure  of  the  "  rebel"  ambas 
sadors  was  perfectly  legitimate  and  normal.  The 
Judge  expressed  his  belief  that  if  there  was  a 
rebellion  in  Ireland,  and  that  Messrs.  Smith 
O'Brien  and  O'Gorman  ran  the  blockade  to 
France,  and  were  going  on  their  passage  from 
Havre  to  New  York  in  a  United  States  steamer, 
they  woulR  be  seized  by  the  first  British  vessel 
that  knew  the  fact.  "  Granted  ;  and  what  would 
the  United  States  do ?"  "I  am  afraid  we  should 
be  obliged  to  demand  that  they  be  given  up ;  and 
if  you  were  strong  enough  at  the  time,  I  dare  say 
you  would  fight  sooner  than  do  so."  Mr.  Sum- 
ner,  with  whom  I  had  some  conversation  this 
afternoon,  affects  to  consider  the  question  emi 
nently  suitable  for  reference  and  arbitration. 

In  spite  of  drills  and  parades,  M'Clellan  has 
not  got  an  army  yet.  A  good  officer,  who  served 
as  brigade-major  in  our  service,  told  me  the  men 
were  little  short  of  mutinous,  with  all  their  fine, 
talk,  though  they  could  fight  well.  Sometimes 
they  refuse  to  mount  guard,  or  to  go  on  duty  not 
to  their  tastes;  officers  refuse  to  serve  under 
others  to  whom  they  have  a  dislike ;  men  offer 
similar  personal  objections  to  officers.  M'Clellan 
is  enforcing  discipline,  and  really  intends  to  exe 
cute  a  most  villanous  deserter  this  time. 

December  15th. — The  first  echo  of  the  San 
Jacinto's  guns  in  England  reverberated  to  the 
United  States,  and  produced  a  profound  sensa 
tion.  The  people  had  made  up  their  minds 
John  Bull  would  acquiesce  in  the  seizure,  and 
not  say  a  word  about  it ;  or  they  affected  to  think 
so ;  ivncl  the  cry  of  anger  which  has  resounded 
througn  the  land,  and  the  unmistakable  tone  of 
the  British  .press,  at  once  surprise,  and  irritate, 
and  disappoint  them.  The  American  journals, 
nevertheless,  pretend  to  think  it  is  a  mere  vulgar 
excitement,  and  that  the  press  is  "only  indulging 
in  its  habitual  bluster." 

December  16th. — I  met  Mr.  Seward  at  the  ball 
and  cotillon  party,  given  by  M.  de  Lisboa ;  and 
as  he  was  in  very  good  humour,  and  was  inclined 
to  talk,  he  pointed  out  to  the  Prince  de  Joinville, 
and  all  who  were  inclined  to  listen,  and  myself, 
how  terrible  the  effects  of  a  war  would  be  if  Great 
Britain  forced  it  on  the  United  States.  "  We  will 
wrap  the  whole  world  in  flames  I"  he  exclaimed. 
"  No  power  so  remote  that  she  will  not  feel  the 
fire  of  our  battle  and  be  burned  by  our  conflagra 
tion."  It  is  inferred  that  Mr.  Seward  means  to 
show  fight.  One  of  the  guests,  however,  said  to 
me,  "That's  all  bugaboo  talk.  When  Seward 
talks  that  way,  he  means  to  break  down.  He  is 
most  dangerous  and  obstinate  when  he  pretends 
to  agree  a  good  deal  with  you."  The  young 
French  Princes,  and  the  young  and  pretty  Brazi 
lian  and  American  ladies,  danced  and  were  happy, 
notwithstanding  the  storms  without. 

Next  day  I  dined  at  Mr.  Seward's,  as  the 
Minister  had  given  carte  blanche  to  a  very  lively 
and  agreeable  lady,  who  has  to  lament  over  an 


absent  husband  in  this  terrible  war,  to  ask  two 
gentlemen  to  dine  with  him,  and  she  had  been 
pleased  to  select  myself  and  M.  de  Geoffrey, 
Secretary  of  the  French  Legation,  as  her  thick 
and  her  thin  umbrae;  and  the  company  went  off 
in  the  evening  to  the  White  House,  where  there 
was  a  reception,  whereat  I  imagined  I  might  be 
de  trop,  and  so  home. 

Mr.  Seward  was  in  the  best  spirits,  and  told 
one  or  two  rather  long,  but  very  pleasant,  stories. 
Now  it  is  evident  he  must  by  this  time  know 
Great  Britain  has  resolved  on  the  course  to  be 
pursued,  and  his  good-humour,  contrasted  with 
the  irritation  he  displayed  in  May  and  June,  is 
not  intelligible. 

The  Russian  Minister,  at  whose  house  I  dined 
next  day,  is  better  able  than  any  man  to  appre 
ciate  the  use  made  of  the  Czar's  professions  of 
regret  for  the  evils  which  distract  the  States  by 
the  Americans ;  but  it  is  the  fashion  to  approve 
of  everything  that  France  doos,  and  to  assume  a 
violent  affection  for  Russia.  The  Americans  are 
irritated  by  war  preparations  on  the  part  of  Eng 
land,  in  case  the  Government  of  Washington  do 
not  accede  to  their  demands;  and,  at  the  same 
time,  much  annoyed  that  all  European  nations 
join  in  an  outcry  against  the  famous  project  of 
destroying  the  Southern  harbours  by  the  means 
of  the  stone  fleet. 

December  ZOth.—I  went  down  to  the  Senate, 
as  it  was  expected  at  the  Legation  and  elsewhere 
the  President  would  send  a  special  message  to 
the  Senate  on  the  Trent  affair ;  but,  instead,  there 
was  merely  a  long  speech  from  a  senator,  to  show 
the  South  did  not  like  democratic  institutions. 
Lord  Lyons  called  on  Mr.  Seward  yesterday  to 
read  Lord  Russell's  dispatch  to  him,  and  to  give 
time  for  a  reply ;  but  Mr.  Seward  was  out,  and 
Mr.  Sumner  told  me  the  Minister  was  down  with 
the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations,  where  there 
is  a  serious  business  in  reference  to  the  state  of 
Mexico  and  certain  European  Powers  under  dis 
cussion,  when  the  British  Minister  went  to  the 
State  Department. 

Next  day  Lord  Lyons  had  two  interviews 
with  Mr.  Seward,  read  the  despatch,  which  sim 
ply  asks  for  surrender  of  Mason  and  Slidell  and 
reparation,  without  any  specific  act  named,  but 
he  received  no  indication  from  Mr.  Seward  of  the 
course  he  would  pursue.  Mr.  Lincoln  has  "  put 
down  his  foot"  on  no  surrender.  "Sir!"  ex 
claimed  the  President,  to  an  old  Treasury  official 
the  other  day,  "I  would  sooner  die  than  give 
them  up."  "  Mr.  President,"  was  the  reply, 
"  your  death  would  be  a  great  loss,  but  the  de 
struction  of  the  United  States  would  be  a  still 
more  deplorable  event." 

Mr.  Seward  will,  however,  control  the  situa 
tion,  as  the  Cabinet  will  very  probably  support 
his  views ;  and  Americans  will  comfort  them 
selves,  in  case  the  captives  are  surrendered,  with 
a  promise  of  future  revenge,  and  with  the  reflec 
tion  that  they  have  avoided  a  very  disagreeable 
intervention  between  their  march  of  conquest 
and  the  Southern  Confederacy.  The  general  be 
lief  of  the  diplomatists  is,  that  the  prisoners  will 
not  be  given  up,  and  in  that  case  Lord  Lyons  and 
the  Legation  will  retire  from  Washington  for  the 
time,  probably  to  Halifax,  leaving  Mr.  Monson  to 
wind  up  affairs  and  clear  out  the  archives.  But 
it  is  understood  that  there  is  no  ultimatum,  and 
that  Lord  Lyons  is  not  tc  indicate  any  course  of 


218 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


action,  should  Mr.  Seward  inform  him  the  United 
States  Government  refuses  to  comply  with  the 
demands  of  Great  Britain. 

Any  humiliation  which  may  be  attached  to 
concession  will  be  caused  by  the  language  of  the 
Americans  themselves,  who  have  given  in  their 
press,  in  public  meetings,  in  the  Lower  House,  in 
the  Cabinet,  and  in  the  conduct  of  the  President, 
a  complete  ratification  of  the  act  of  Captain 
Wilkes,  not  to  speak  of  the  opinions  of  the  law 
yers,  and  the  speeches  of  their  orators,  who  de 
clare  "  they  will  face  any  alternative,  but  that 
they  will  never  surrender."  The  friendly  rela 
tions  which  existed  between  ourselves  and  many 
excellent  Americans  are  now. rendered  somewhat 
constrained  by  the  prospect  of  a  great  national 
difference. 

December  (Sunday)  22nd — Lord  Lyons  saw 
Mr.  Seward  again,  but  it  does  not  appear  that 
any  answer  can  be  expected  before  Wednesday. 
All  kinds  of  rumours  circulate  through  the  city, 
and  are  repeated  in  an  authoritative  manner  in 
the  New  York  papers. 

December  23rd. — There  was  a  tremendous 
sfcorm,  which  drove  over  the  city  and  shook  the 
houses  to  the  foundation.  Constant  interviews 
took  place  between  the  President  and  members 
of  the  Cabinet,  and  so  certain  are  the  people  that 
war  is  inevitable,  that  an  officer  connected  with 
the  executive  of  the  Navy  Department  came  in 
to  tell  me  General  Scott  was  coming  over  from 
Europe  to  conduct  the  Canadian  campaign,  as  he 
had  thoroughly  studied  the  geography  of  the 
country,  and  that  in  a  very  short  time  he  would 
be  in  possession  of  every  strategic  position  on  the 
frontier,  and  chaw  up  our  reinforcements.  Late 
in  the  evening,  Mr.  Olmsted  called  to  say  he 
had  been  credibly  informed  Lord  Lyons  had  quar 
relled  violently  with  Mr.  Seward,  had  flown  into 
a  great  passion  with  him,  and  so  departed.  The 
idea  of  Lord  Lyons  being  quarrelsome,  passionate, 
or  violent,  was  preposterous  enough  to  those 
who  knew  him;  but  the  American  papers,  by 
repeated  statements  of  the  sort,  have  succeeded 
in  persuading  their  public  that  the  British  Minis 
ter  is  a  plethoric,  red-faced,  large-stomached  man 
in  top-boots,  knee-breeches,  yellow  waistcoat, 
blue  cut-away,  brass  buttons,  and  broad-brimmed 
white  hat,  who  is  continually  walking  to  the 
State  Department  in  company  with  a  large  bull 
dog,  hurling  defiance  at  Mr.  Seward  at  one  mo 
ment,  and  the  next  rushing  home  to  receive 
despatches  from  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  or  to  give 
secret  instructions  to  the  British  Consuls  to  run 
cargoes  of  quinine  and  gunpowder  through  the 
Federal  blockade.  I  was  enabled  to  assure  Mr. 
Olmsted  there  was  not  the  smallest  foundation 
for  the  story ;  but  he  seemed  impressed  with  a 
sense  of  some  great  calamity,  and  told  me  there 
was  a  general  belief  that  England  only  wanted 
a  pretext  for  a  quarrel  with  the  United  States ; 
nor  could  I  comfort  him  by  the  assurance  that 
there  were  good  reasons  for  thinking  General 
Scott  would  very  soon  annex  Canada,  in  case  of 
war. 


CHAPTER  LX.       J^ 

News  of  the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort — Mr.  Sumner 
and  the  Trent  Affair— Dispatch  to  Lord  Eussell— The 
Southern  Commissioners  given  up — Effects  on  the 
friends  of  the  South — My  own  unpopularity  at  New 
York — Attack  of  fever — My  tour  in  Canada — My  re 
turn  to  New  York  in  February— Successes  of  the 
Western  States — Mr.  Stan  ton  succeeds  Mr.  Cameron  as 
Secretary  of  War— Keverse  and  retreat  of  M'Clellan — 
My  free  pass— The  Merrimac  and  Monitor— My  ar 
rangement  to  accompany  M'Clellan's  headquarters— 
Mr.  Stanton  refuses  his  sanction — National  vanity 
wounded  by  my  truthfulness— My  retirement  and  re 
turn  to  Europe. 

December  24Z/1. — This  evening  came  in  a  tele 
gram  from  Europe  with  news  which  cast  the 
deepest  gloom  over  all  our  little  English  circle. 
Prince  Albert  dead !  At  first  no  one  believed  it ; 
then  it  was  remembered  that  private  letters  by 
the  last  mail  had  spoken  despondingly  %f  his  state 
of  health,  and  that  the  "little  cold"  of  which  we 
had  heard  was  described  in  graver  terms.  Prince 
Albert  dead!.  "Oh,  it  may  be  Prince  Alfred," 
said  some ;  and  sad  as  it  would  be  for  the  Queen 
and  the  public  to  lose  the  Sailor  Prince,  the  loss 
could  not  be  so  great  as  that  which  we  all  felt  to 
be  next  to  the  greatest.  The  preparations  which 
we  had  made  for  a  little  festivity  to  welcome  in 
Christmas  morning  were  chilled  by  the  news,  and 
the  eve  was  not  of  the  joyous  character  which 
Englishmen  delight  to  give  it,  for  the  sorrow 
which  fell  on  all  hearts  in  England  had  spanned 
the  Atlantic,  and  bade  us  mourn  in  common  with 
the  country  at  home. 

December  25th. — Lord  Lyons,  who  had  invited 
the  English  in  Washington  to  dinner,  gave  a 
small  quiet  entertainment,  from  which  he  retired 
early. 

December  26th. — No  answer  yet.  There  can 
be  but  one.  Press  people,  soldiers,  sailors,  minis 
ters,  senators,  Congress-men,  people  in  the  street, 
the  voices  of  the  bar-room — all  are  agreed,  "  Give 
them  up?  Never!  We'll  die  first!"  Senator 
Sumner,  M.  de  Beaumont,  M.  de  Geoffrey,  of  the 
French  Legation,  djned  with  me,  in  company 
with  General  Van  Vliet,  Mr.  Anderson,  and  Mr. 
Lamy,  &c. ;  and  in  the  evening  Major  Anson, 
M.P.,  Mr.  Johnson,  Captain  Irwin,  U.S.A.,  Lt. 
Wise,  U.S.N.,  joined  our  party,  and  after  much 
evasion  of  the  subject,  the  English  despatch  and 
Mr.  Seward's  decision  turned  up  and  caused  some 
discussion.  Mr.  Sumner,  who  is  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Senate, 
and  in  that  capacity  Is  in  intimate  rapport  with 
the  President,  either  is,  or  affects  to  be  incredu 
lous  respecting  the  nature  of  Lord  Russell's  des 
patch  this  evening,  and  argues  that,  at  the  very 
utmost,  the  Trent  affair  can  only  be  a  matter  for 
mediation,  and  not  for  any  peremptory  demand, 
as  the  law  of  nations  has  no  exact  precedent  to 
bear  upon  the  case,  and  that  there  are  so  many 
instances  in  which  Sir  W.  Scott's  (Lord  Sto well's) 
decisions  in  principle  appear  to  justify  Captain 
Wilkes.  All  along  he  has  held  this  language, 
and  has  maintained  that  at  the  very  worst  there 
is  plenty  of  time  for  protocols,  despatches,  and 
references,  and  more  than  once  he  has  said  to  me, 
" I  hope  you  will  keep  the  peace;  help  us  to  do 
go," — the  peace  having  been  already  broken  by 
Captain  Wilkes  and  the  Government. 

December  27th. — This  morning  Mr.  Seward  sent 
in  his  reply  to  Lord  Russell's  despatch—"  grandis 
et  verbosa  epistola."  The  result  destroys  my 
prophecies,  for,  after  all,  the  Southern  Commission- 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


219 


ers  or  Ambassadors  are  to  be  given  up.  Yester 
day,  indeed,  in  an  under-current  of  whispers 
among  the  desponding  friends  of  the  South,  there 
went  a  rumour  that  the  Government  had  resolved 
to  yield.  What  a  collapse !  "What  a  bitter  mor 
tification  !  I  had  scarcely  finished  the  perusal 
of  an  article  in  a  "Washington  paper, — which,  let 
it  be  understood,  is  an  organ  of  Mr.  Lincoln, — 
stating  that  "  Mason  and  Slidell  would  not  be  sur 
rendered,  and  assuring  the  people  they  need  en 
tertain  no  apprehension  of  such  a  dishonourable 
concession,"  when  I  learned  beyond  all  possibility 
of  doubt,  that  Mr.  Seward  had  handed  in  his  des 
patch,  placing  the  Commissioners  at  the  disposal 
of  the  British  Minister.  A  copy  of  the  despatch 
will  be  published  in  the  National  Intelligencer  to 
morrow  morning  at  an  early  hour,  in  time  to  go  to 
Europe  by  the  steamer  which  leaves  New  York. 

After  dinner,  those  who  were  in  the  secret 
were  amused  by  hearing  the  arguments  which 
were  started  between  one  or  two  Americans  and 
some  English  in  the  company,  in  consequence 
of  a  positive  statement  from  a  gentleman  who 
came  in,  that  Mason  and  Slidell  had  been  surren 
dered.  I  have  resolved  to  go  to  Boston,  being 
satisfied  that  a  great  popular  excitement  and  up 
rising  will,  in  all  probability,  take  place  on  the 
discharge  of  the  Commissioners  from  Fort  "War 
ren.  What  will  my  friend,  the  general,  say,  who 
told  me  yesterday  "  he  would  snap  his  sword,  and 
throw  the  pieces  into  the  White  House,  if  they 
were  given  up." 

December  28th.— The  Nniivial  Intelligencer  of 
this  morning  contains  the  dispatches  of  Lord  Rus- 
sel,  M.  Thouvenel,  and  Mr.  Seward.  The  bubble 
has  burst.  The  rage  of  the  friends  of  compro 
mise,  and  of  the  South,  who  saw  in  a  war  with 
Great  Britain  the  complete  success  of  the  Confe 
deracy,  is  deep  and  burning,  if  not  loud ;  but  they 
all  say  they  never  expected  anything  better  from 
the  cowardly  and  braggart  statesmen  who  now 
rule  in  Washington. 

Lord  Lyons  has  evinced  the  most  moderate 
and  conciliatory  spirit,  and  has  done  everything 
in  his  power  to  break  Mr.  Seward's  fall  on  the 
softest  of  eider  down.  Some  time  ago  we  were 
all  prepared  to  hear  nothing  less  would  be  ac 
cepted  than  Captain  Wilkes  taking  Messrs.  Mason 
and  Slidell  on  board  the  San  Jacinto,  and  trans 
ferring  them  to  the  Trent,  under  a  salute  to  the 
flag,  near  the  scene  of  the  outrage  ;  at  all  events, 
it  was  expected  that  a  British  man-of-war  would 
have  steamed  into  Boston,  and  received  the  pri 
soners  under  a  salute  from  Fort  Warren  ;  but  Mr. 
Seward,  apprehensive  that  some  outrage  would 
be  offered  by  the  populace  to  the  prisoners  and 
the  British  Flag,  has  asked  Lord  Lyons  that  the 
Southern  Commissioners  may  be  placed,  as  it 
were,  surreptitiously,  in  a  United  States  boat, 
and  carried  to  a  small  seaport  in  the  State  of 
Maine,  where  they  are  to  be  placed  on  board  a 
British  vessel  as  quietly  as  possible ;  and  this 
exigent,  imperious,  tyrann'.oal,  insulting  British 
Minister  has  cheerfili/  arceded  to  the  request. 
Mr.  Conway  Seymour,  the  Queen's  messenger, 
who  brought  Lord  Russell's  despatch,  was  sent 
t)ack  with  instructions  for  the  British  Admiral,  to 
send  a  vessel  to  Providence-town  for  the  purpose; 
and  as  Mr.  Johnson,  who  is  nearly  connected 
with  Mr.  Eustis,  one  of  the  prisoners,  proposed 
going  to  Boston  to  see  his  brother-in-law,  if  pos 
sible,  ere  he  started,  and  as  there  was  not  the 


smallest  prospect  of  any  military  movement 
taking  place,  I  resolved  to  go  northwards  with 
him  ;  and  we  left  Washington  accordingly  on  the 
morning  of  the  31st  of  December,  and  arrived  at 
the  New  York  Hotel  the  same  night. 

To  my  great  regret  and  surprise,  however,  I 
learned  that  it  would  be  impracticable  to  get  to 
Fort  Warren  and  see  the  prisoners  before  their 
surrender.  My  unpopularity,  which  had  lost 
somewhat  of  its  intensity,  was  revived  by  the 
exasperation  against  everything  English,  occa 
sioned  by  the  firmness  of  Great  Britain  in  de 
manding  the  Commissioners ;  and  on  New  Year's 
Night,  as  I  heard  subsequently,  Mr.  Grinnell  and 
other  members  of  the  New  York  Club  were  ex 
posed  to  annoyance  and  insult,  by  some  of  their 
brother  members,  in  consequence  of  inviting  me 
to  be  their  guest  at  the  club. 

The  illness  which  had  prostrated  some  of  the 
strongest  men  in  Washington,  including  General 
M'Clellan  himself,  developed  itself  as  soon  as  I 
ceased  to  be  sustained  by  the  excitement,  such 
as  it  was,  of  daily  events  at  the  capital,  and  by 
expectations  of  a  move-;  and  for  some  time  an 
a  tack  of  typhoid  fever  confined  me  to  my  room, 
and  left  me  so  weak  that  I.  was  advised  not  to 
return  to  Washington  till  I  had  tried  change  of 
air.  I  remained  in  New  York  till  the  end  of  Ja 
nuary,  when  I  proceeded  to  make  a  tour  in 
Canada,  as  it  was  quite  impossible  for  any  opera 
tion  to  take  place  on  the  Potomac,  where  deep 
mud,  alternating  with  snow  and  frost,  bound  the 
contending  armies  in  winter  quarters. 

On  my  return  to  New  York,  at  the  end  of  Feb 
ruary,  the  North  was  cheered  by  some  signal  suc 
cesses  achieved  in  the  West  principally  by  gun 
boats,  operating  on  the  lines  of  the  great  rivers. 
The  greatest  results  have  been  obtained  in  the 
capture  of  Fort  Donaldson  and  Fort  Henry,  by 
Commodore  Foote's  flotilla  co-operating  with  the 
land  forces.  The  possession  of  an  absolute  naval, 
supremacy,  of  course,  gives  the  North  Uniteft 
States  powerful  means  of  annoyance  and  inflict 
ing  injury  and  destruction  on  the  enemy ;  it  also 
secures  for  them  the  means  of  seizing  upon  bases 
of  operations  wherever  they  please,  of  breaking 
up  the  enemy's  lines,  and  maintaining  communi 
cations  ;  but  the  example  of  Great  Britain  in  the 
revolutionary  war  should  prove  to  the  United 
States  that  such  advantages  do  not,  by  any 
means,  enable  a  belligerent  to  subjugate  a  deter 
mined  people  resolved  on  resistance  to  the  last. 
The  long-threatened  encounter  between  Bragg 
and  Browne  has  taken  place  at  Pensacola,  with 
out  effect,  and  the  attempts  of  the  Federals  to 
advance  from  Port  Royal  have  been  successfully 
resisted.  Sporadic  skirmishes  have  sprung  up 
over  every  border  State ;  but,  on  the  whole,  suc 
cess  has  inclined  to  the  Federals  in  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee. 

On  the  1st  March,  I  arrived  in  Washington 
once  more,  and  found  things  very  much  as  I  had 
left  them  :  the  army  recovering  the  effect  of  the 
winter's  sickness  and  losses,  animated  by  the  vic 
tories  of  their  comrades  in  Western  fields,  and  by 
the  hope  that  the  ever-coming  to-morrow  would 
see  them  in  the  field  at  last.  In  place  of  Mr. 
Cameron,  an  Ohio  lawyer  named  Stanton  haa 
been  appointed  Secretary  of  War.  He  came  to 
Washington,  a  few  years  ago,  to  conduct  some 
legal  proceedings  for  Mr.  Daniel  Sickles,  and  by 
his  energy,  activity,  and  a  rapid  conversion  from 


220 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


democratic  to  republican  principles,  as  well  as  by 
his  Union  sentiments,  recommended  himself  to 
the  President  and  his  Cabinet. 

The  month  of  March  passed  over  without  any 
remarkable  event  in  the  field.  When  the  army 
started  at  last  to  attack  the  enemy — a  movement 
which  was  precipitated  by  hearing  that  they  were 
moving  away — they  went  out  only  to  find  the 
Confederates  had  fallen  back  by  interior  lines  to 
wards  Richmond,  and  General  M'Clellan  was 
obliged  to  transport  his  army  from  Alexandria  to 
the  peninsula  of  York  Town,  where  his  reverses, 
his  sufferings,  and  his  disastrous  retreat,  are  so 
well  known  and  so  recent,  that  I  need  only  men 
tion  them  as  among  the  most  remarkable  events 
which  h.ivo  yet  occurred  in  this  war, 

I  had  looked  forward  for  many  weary  months 
to  participating  in  the  movement  and  describing 
its  results.  Immediately  on  my  arrival  in  Wash 
ington,  I  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Stanton  by  Mr. 
Ashman,  formerly  member  of  Congress  and  Secre 
tary  to  Mr.  Daniel  Webster,  and  the  Secretary, 
without  making  any  positive  pledge,  used  words, 
in  Mr.  Ashman's  presence,  which  led  me  to  believe 
he  would  give  me  permission  to  draw  rations,  and 
undoubtedly  promised  to  afford  me  every  facility 
in  his  power.  Subsequently  he  sent  me  a  private 
pass  to  the  War  Department  to  enable  me  to  get 
through  the  crowd  of  contractors  and  jobbers; 
sut  on  going  there  to  keep  my  appointment,  the 
Assistant-Secretary  of  War  told  me  Mr.  Stanton 
had  been  summoned  to  a  Cabinet  Council  by  the 
President. 

We  had  some  conversation  respecting  the  sub 
ject  matter  of  my  application,  which  the  Assist 
ant-Secretary  seemed  to  think  would  be  attended 
with  many  difficulties,  in  consequence  of  the  num 
ber  of  correspondents  to  the  American  papers  who 
might  demand  the  same  privileges,  and  he  inti 
mated  to  me  that  Mr.  Stanton  was  little  disposed 
to  encourage  them  in  any  way  whatever.  Now 
fflis  is  undoubtedly  honest  on  Mr.  Stanton's  part, 
for  he  knows  he  might  render  himself  popular  by 
granting  what  they  ask;  but  he  is  excessively 
vain,  and  aspires  to  be  considered  a  rude,  rough, 
vigorous  Oliver  Cromwell  sort  of  man,  mistaking 
some  of  the  disagreeable  attributes  and  the  acci 
dents  of  the  external  husk  of  the  Great  Protector 
for  the  brain  and  head  of  a  statesman  and  a  sol 
dier. 

The  American  officers  with  whom  I  was  inti 
mate  gave  me  to  understand  that  I  could  accom 
pany  them,  in  case  I  received  permission  from  the 
Government ;  but  they  were  obviously  unwilling 
to  encounter  the  abuse  and.  calumny  which  would 
be  heaped  upon  their  heads  by  American  papers, 
unless  they  could  show  the  authorities  did  not 
disapprove  of  my  presence  in  their  camp.  Seve 
ral  invitations  sent  to  me  were  accompanied  by 
the  phrase,  "You  will  of  course  get  a  written 
permission  from  the  War  Department,  and  then 
there  will  be  no  difficulty."  On  the  evening  of 
the  private  theatricals  by  which  Lord  Lyons  en- 
livened  the  ineffable  dulness  of  Washington,  I 
saw  Mr.  Stanton  at  the  Legation,  and  he  conversed 
with  me  for  some  time.  I  mentioned  the  difficul 
ty  connected  with  passes.  He  asked  me  what  I 
wanted.  I  said,  "An  order  to  go  with  the  army 
to  Manassas."  At  his  request  I  procured  a  sheet 
of  paper,  and  he  wrote  me  a  pass,  took  a  copy  of 
it,  which  he  put  in  his  pocket,  and  then  handed 
the  other  to  me.  On  looking  at  it,  I  perceived 


that  it  was  a  permission  for  me  to  go  to  Manas 
sas  and  back,  and  that  all  officers,  soldiers,  and 
others,  in  the  United  States  service,  were  to  give 
me  every  assistance  and  show  me  every  courtesy ; 
but  the*  hasty  return  of  the  army  to  Alexandria 
rendered  it  useless. 

The  Merrimac  and  Monitor  encounter  produced 
the  profo'indest  impression  in  Washington,  and 
unusual  strictness  was  observed  respecting  passes 
to  Fortress  Monroe. 

March  I9lh. — I  applied  at  the  Navy  Depart 
ment  for  a  passage  down  to  Fortress  Monroe,  as 
it  was  expected  the  Merrimac  was  coming  out 
again,  but  I  could  r.ot  obtain  leave  to  go  in  any 
of  the  vessels.  Captain  Hardman  showed  me  a 
curious  sketch  of  what  he  called  the  Turtle  Thor, 
an  iron-cased  machine  with  a  huge  claw  or  grap 
nel,  with  which  to  secure  the  enemy  whilst  a 
steam  hammer  or  a  high  iron  fist,  worked  by  the 
engine,  cracks  and  smashes  her  iron  armour. 
"For,"  says  he,  "the  days  of  gunpowder  are 
over." 

As  soon  as  General  M'Clellan  commenced  his 
movement,  he  sent  a  message  to  me  by  one  of  the 
French  princes,  that  he  would  have  great  plea 
sure  in  allowing  me  to  accompany  his  head-quar 
ters  in  the  field.  I  find  the  following,  under  the 
head  of  March  22nd: — 

"  Received  a  letter  from  General  Marcy,  chief 
of  the  staff,  asking  me  to  call  at  his  office.  He 
told  me  General  M'Clellan  directed  him  to  say  he 
had  no  objection  whatever  to  my  accompanying 
the  army,  '  but,'  continued  General  Marcy,  'you 
know  we  are  a  sensitive  people,  and  that  our 
press  is  exceedingly  jealous.  General  M'Clellan 
has  many  enemies  who  seek  to  pull  him  down, 
and  scruple  at  no  means  of  doing  so.  He  and  I 
would  be  glad  to  do  anything  in  our  power  to 
help  you,  if  you  come  with  us,  but  we  must  not 
expose  ourselves  needlessly  to  attack.  The  army 
is  to  move  to  the  York  and  James  Rivers  at 
once.'  " 

All  my  arrangements  were  made  that  day  with 
General  Van  Vliet,  the  quartermaster-general  of 
headquarters.  I  was  quite  satisfied,  from  Mr. 
Stanton's  promise  and  General  Marcy's  conversa 
tion,  that  I  should  have  no  further  difficulty. 
Our  party  was  made  up,  consisting  of  Colonel 
Neville;  Lieutenant-Colonel  Fletcher,  Scotch 
Fusilier  Guards;  Mr!  Lamy,  and  myself;  and  GUI 
passage  was  to  be  provided  in  the  quartermaster- 
general's  boat.  On  the  26th  of  March,  I  went  to 
Baltimore  in  company  with  Colonel  Rowan,  of 
the  Royal  Artillery,  who  had  come  down  for  a 
few  days  to  visit  Washington,  intending  to  go  on 
by  the  steamer  to  Fortress  Monroe,  as  he  was 
desirous  of  seeing  his  friends  on  board  the  Rinaldo, 
and  I  wished  to  describe  the  great  flotilla  assem 
bled  there  and  to  see  Captain  Hewett  once 
more. 

On  arriving  at  Baltimore,  we  learned  it  would 
be  necessary  to  get  a  special  pass  from  General 
Dix,  and  on  going  to  the  General's  head-quarters 
his  aide-de-camp  informed  us  that  he  had  received 
special  instructions  recently  from  the  War  Depart 
ment  to  grant  cp  passes  to  Fortress  Monroe 
unless  to  officers  and  soldiers  going  on  duty,  of 
to  persons  in  the  service  of  the  linked  States. 
The  aide-de-camp  advised  me  to  telegraph  to  Mr. 
Stanton  for  permission,  which  I  did,  but  no 
answer  was  received,  and  Colonel  Rowan  and  I 
returned* to  Waai.t-gton,  thinking  there  would  be 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


221 


a  better  chance  of  securing  the  necessary  order 
there. 

Next  day  we  went  to  the  Department  of  War, 
and  were  "shown  into  Mr.  Stanton's  room — his 
secretary  informing  us  that  he  was  engaged  in  the 
next  room  with  the  President  and  other  Ministers 
in  a  council  of  war,  but  that  he  would  no  doubt 
receive  a  letter  from  me  and  send  me  out  a  reply. 
I  accordingly  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Stanton, 
requesting  he  would  be  good  enough  to  give  an 
order  to  Colonel  Rowan,  of  the  British  army,  and 
myself,  to  go  by  the  mail  boat  from  Baltimore  to 
Monroe.  In  a  short  time  Mr.  Stanton  sent  out  a 
note  in  the  following  words: — "Mr.  Stanton 
informs  Mr.  Russell  no  passes  to  Fortress  Monroe 
can  be  given  at  present,  unless  to  officers  in  the 
United  States  service."  We  tried  the  Navy 
Department,  but  no  vessels  were  going  down, 
they  said ;  and  one  of  the  officers  suggested  that 
we  should  ask  for  passes  to  go  down  and  visit 
H.  M.  S.  Rinaldo  exclusively,  which  could  not 
well  be  refused,  he  thought,  to  British  subjects, 
and  promised  to  take  charge  of  the  letter  for  Mr. 
Stanton  and  to  telegraph  the  permission  down  to 
Baltimore.  There  we  returned  by  the  afternoon 
train  and  waited,  but  neither  reply  nor  pass  came 
for  us. 

Next  day  we  were  disappointed  also,  and  an 
officer  of  the  Rinaldo,  who  had  come  up  on  duty 
from  the  ship,  was  refused  permission  to  take  us 
down  on  his  return.  I  regretted  thesa  obstruc 
tions  principally  on  Colonel  Rowan's  account, 
because  he  would  have  no  opportunity  of  seeing 
the  flotilla.  He  returned  next  day  to  New  York, 
whilst  I  completed  my  preparations  for  the  expe 
dition  and  went  back  to  Washington,  where  I 
received  my  pass,  signed  by  General  M'Clellan's 
chief  of  the  staff'  authorising  me  to  accompany 
the  head-quarters  of  the  army  under  his  command. 
So  far  as  I  know,  Mr.  Stanton  sent  no  reply  to 
my  last  letter,  and  calling  with  General  Tan  Vliet 
at  his  house  on  his  reception  night,  the  door  was 
opened  by  his  brother-in-law,  who  said,  "The 
Secretary  was  attending  a  sick  child  and  could 
not  see  any  person  that  evening,"  so  I  never  met 
Mr.  Stanton  again. 

Stories  had  long  been  current  concerning  his 
exceeding  animosity  to  General  M'Clellan,  found 
ed  perhaps  on  his  expressed  want  of  confidence 
in  the  General's  abilities,  as  much  as  on  the  dis 
like  he  felt  towards  a  man  who  persisted  in 
disregarding  his  opinions  on  matters  connected 
with  military  operations.  His  infirmities  of 
health  and  tendency  to  cerebral  excitement  had 
been  increased  by  the  pressure  of  business,  by 
the  novelty  of  power,  and  by  the  angry  passions 
to  which  individual  antipathies  and  personal  ran 
cour  give  rise.  No  one  who  ever  saw  Mr.  Stan- 
ton  would  expect  from  him  courtesy  of  manner  or 
delicacy  of  feeling ;  but  his  affectation  of  blunt- 
ness  and  straightforwardness  of  purpose  might 
have  led  one  to  suppose  he  was  honest  and  direct 
in  purpose,  as  the  qualities  I  have  mentioned  are 
not  always  put  forward  by  hypocrites  to  cloak 
finesse  and  sinister  action. 

The  rest  of  the  story  may  be  told  in  a  few 
words.  It  was  perfectly  well  known  in  Wash 
ington  that  I  was  going  with  the  army,  and  I 
presume  Mr.  Stanton,  if  he  had  any  curiosity 
about  such  a  trifling  matter,  must  have  heard  it 
also.  I  am  told  he  was  informed  of  it  at  the  last 
moment,  and  then  flow  out  into  a  coarse  passion 


against  General  M'Clellan  because  he  had  dared 
to  invite  or  to  take  anyone  without  his  permis 
sion.  What  did  a  Republican  General  want  with 
foreign  princes  on  his  staff,  or  with  foreign  news 
paper  correspondents  to  puff  him  up  abroad  ? 

Judging  from  the  stealthy,  secret  way  in  which 
Mr.  Stanton  struck  at  General  M'CleJlan  the 
instant  he  had  turned  his  back  upon  Washington, 
and  crippled  him  in  the  field  by  suddenly  with 
drawing  his  best  division  without  a  word  of 
notice,  I  am  inclined  to  fear  he  gratified  what 
ever  small  passion  dictated  his  course  on  this 
occasion  also,  by  waiting  till  he  knew  I  was  fairly 
on  board  the  steamer  with  my  friends  and  bag 
gage,  just  ready  to  move  off,  before  he  sent  down 
a  despatch  to  Van  Vliet  and  summoned  him  at 
once  to  the  War  Office.  When  Van  Vliet  re 
turned  in  a  couple  of  hours,  he  made  the  com 
munication  to  me  that  Mr.  Stauton  had  given  him 
written  orders  to  prevent  my  passage,  though 
even  here  he  acted  with  all  the  cunning  and  indi 
rection  of  the  village  attorney,  not  with  the 
straightforwardness  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  whom  it 
is  laughable,  to  name  in  the  same  breath  with  his 
imitator.  He  did  not  write,  "  Mr.  Russell  is  not 
to  go,"  or  "The  Times  correspondent  is  forbidden 
a  passage,"  but  he  composed  two  orders,  with  all 
the  official  formula  of  the  War  Office,  drawn  up 
by  the  Quartermaster  General  of  the  army,  by 
the  direction  and  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 
No.  1  ordered  "that  no  person  should  be  per 
mitted  to  embark  on  board  any  vessel  in  the 
United  States  service  without  an  order  from  the 
War  Department."  No.  2  ordered  "  that  Colonel 
Neville,  Colonel  Fletcher,  and  Captain  Lamy,  of 
the  British  army,  having  been  invited  by  General 
M'Clellan  to  accompany  the  expedition,  were 
authorized  to  embark  on  board  the  vessel." 

General  Van  Vliet  assured  me  that  he  and 
General  M'Dowell  had  urged  every  argument 
they  could  think  of  in  my  favour,  particularly 
the  fact  that  I  was  the  specially  invited  guest  o« 
General  M'Clellan,  and  that  I  was  actually  pro 
vided  with  a  pass  by  his  order  from  the  chief  of 
his  staff. 

With  these  orders  before  me,  I  had  no  alterna 
tive. 

General  M'Clellan  was  far  away.  Mr.  Stanton 
had  waited  again  until  he  was  gone.  General 
Marcy  was  away.  I  laid  the  statement  of  what 
had  occurred  before  the  President,  who  at  first 
gave  me  hopes,  from  the  wording  of  his  letter, 
that  he  would  overrule  Mr.  Stanton's  order,  but 
who  next  day  informed  me  he  could  not  take  i* 
upon  himself  to  do  so. 

It  was  plain  I  had  now  but  one  course  left. 
My  mission  in  the  United  States  was  to  describe 
military  events  and  operations,  or,  in  defect  of 
them,  to  deal  with  such  subjects  as  might  be  in 
teresting  to  people  at  home.  In  the  discharge  of 
my  duty,  I  had  visited  the  South,  remaining  there 
until  the  approach  of  actual  operations  and  the 
establishment  of  the  blockade,  which  cut  off  all 
communication  from  the  Southern  States  except 
by  routes  which  would  deprive  my  correspondence 
of  any  value,  compelled  me  to  return  to  the  North, 
where  I  could  keep  up  regular  communication 
with  Europe.  Soon  after  my  return,  as  unfortu-., 
nately  for  myself  as  the  United  States,  the  Federal 
troops  were  repulsed  in  an  attempt  to  march  upon 
Richmond,  and  terminated  a  disorderly  retreat  by 
a  disgraoef'ul  panic.  The  whole  incidents  of  what 


222 


MY  DIARY  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


I  saw  were  fairly  stated  by  an  impartial  witness, 
who,  if  anything,  was  inclined  to  favour  a  nation 
endeavouring  to  suppress  a  rebellion,  and  who 
was  by  no  means  impressed,  as  the  results  of  his 
recent  tour,  with  the  admiration  and  respect  for 
the  people  of  the  Confederate  States  which  their 
enormous  sacrifices,  extraordinary  gallantry,  and 
almost  unparallelled  devotion,  have  long  since  ex 
torted  from  him  in  common  with  all  the  world. 
The  letter  in  which  that  account  was  given  came 
back  to  America  after  the  first  bitterness  and  hu 
miliation  of  defeat  had  passed  away,  and  disap 
pointment  and  alarm  had  been  succeeded  by 
such  a  formidable  outburst  of  popular  resolve, 
that  the  North  forgot  everything  in  the  instant 
anticipations  of  a  glorious  and  triumphant  re 
venge. 

Every  feeling  of  the  American  was  hurt — above 
all,  his  vanity  and  his  pride,  by  the  manner  in 
which  the  account  of  the  reverse  had  been  receiv 
ed  in  Europe;  and  men  whom  I  scorned  too 
deeply  to  reply  to,  dexterously  took  occasion  to 
direct  on  my  head  the  full  storm  of  popular  indig 
nation.  Not,  indeed,  that  I  had  escaped  before. 
Ere  a  line  from  my  pen  reached  America  at  all — 
ere  my  first  letter  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  to 
England — the  jealousy  and  hatred  felt  for  all 
things  British — for  press  or  principle,  or  repre 
sentative  of  either — had  found  expression  in 
Northern  journals ;  but  that  I  was  prepared  for. 
I  knew  well  no  foreigner  had  ever  penned  a  line 
— least  of  all,  no  Englishman — concerning  the 
United  States  of  North  America,  their  people, 
manners,  and  institutions,  who  had  not  been 
treated  to  the  abuse  which  is  supposed  by  their 
journalists  to  mean  criticism,  no  matter  what  the 
justness  or  moderation  of  the  views  expressed, 
the  sincerity  of  purpose,  and  the  truthfulness  of 
the  writer.  In  the  South,  the  press  threatened 
me  with  tar  and  feathers,  because  I  did  not  see 
the  beauties  of  their  domestic  institutions,  and 
wrote  of  it  in  my  letters  to  England  exactly  as  I 
spoke  of  it  to  every  one  who  conversed  with  me 
on  the  subject  when  I  was  amongst  them ;  and 
now  the  Northern  papers  recommended  expul 
sion,  ducking,  riding  rails,  and  other  cognate 
modes  of  insuring  a  moral  conviction  of  error: 
endeavoured  to  intimidate  me  by  threats  of  duels 


or  personal  castigations ;  gratified  their  malignity 
by  ludicrous  stories  of  imaginary  affronts  or  an 
noyances  to  which  I  never  was  exposed;  and 
sought  to  prevent  the  authorities  extending  any 
protection  towards  me,  and  to  intimidate  officers 
from  showing  me  any  civilities. 

In  pursuance  of  my  firm  resolution  I  allowed 
the  slanders  and  misrepresentations  which  poured 
from  their  facile  sources  for  months  to  pass  by 
unheeded,  and  trusted  to  the  calmer  sense  of  the 
people,  and  to  the  discrimination  of  those  who 
thought  over  the  sentiments  expressed  in  my  let 
ters,  to  do  me  justice. 

I  need  not  enlarge  on  the  dangers  to  which  I 
was  exposed.  Those  who  are  acquainted  with 
America,  and  know  the  life  of  the  great  cities, 
will  best  appreciate  the  position  of  a  man  who 
went  forth  daily  in  the  camps  and  streets  holding 
his  life  in  his  hand.  This  expression  of  egotism 
is  all  I  shall  ask  indulgence  for.  Nothing  could 
have  induced  me  to  abandon  my  post  or  to  recoil 
before  my  assailants ;  but  at  last  a  power  I  could 
not  resist  struck  me  down.  "When  to  the  press 
and  populace  of  the  United  States,  the  President 
and  the  Government  of  "Washington  added  their 
power,  resistance  would  be  unwise  and  impracti 
cable.  In  no  camp  could  I  have  been  received — 
in  no  place  useful  I  went  to  America  to  witness 
and  describe  the  operations  of  the  great  army  be 
fore  Washington  in  the  field,  and  when  I  was  for 
bidden  by  the  proper  authorities  to  do  so,  my 
mission  terminated  at  once. 

On  the  evening  of  April  4th,  as  soon  as  I  was 
in  receipt  of  the  President's  last  communication, 
I  telegraphed  to  New  York  to  engage  a  pas 
sage  by  the  steamer  which  left  on  the  following 
Wednesday.  Next  day  was  devoted  to  packing 
up  and  to  taking  leave  of  my  friends — English 
and  American — whose  kindnesses  I  shall  remem 
ber  in  my  heart  of  hearts,  and  the  following 
Monday  I  left  Washington,  of  which,  after  all,  1 
shall  retain  many  pleasant  memories  and  keep 
souvenirs  green  for  ever.  I  arrived  in  New  York 
late  on  Tuesday  evening,  and  next  day  I  saw  the 
shores  receding  into  a  dim  grey  fog,  and  ere  the 
night  fell  was  tossing  about  once  more  on  the 
stormy  Atlantic,  with  the  head  of  our  good  ship 
pointing,  thank  Heaven,  towards  Europe. 


THE   END. 


CONTENTS. 


.Off  to 


CHAPTER  I. 

Departure  from  Cork— The  Atlantic  in  March— Fellow- 
passengers— American  politics  and  parties — The  Irish 
in  New  York— Approach  to  New  York Page  9 

CHAPTER  II. 

Arrival  at  New  York — Custom  house — General  impres 
sions  as  to  North  and  South— Street  in  New  York— Ho 
tel — Breakfast — American  women  and  men — Visit  to 
Mr.  Bancroft— Street  railways 11 

CHAPTER  HI. 

*'St.  Patrick's  day"  in  New  York — Public  dinner — Amer 
ican  Constitution  —  General  topics  of  conversation  — 
Public  estimate  of  the  Government — Evening  party  at 
Mons.  B 's 14 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Streets  and  shops  in  New  York— Literature — A  funeral — 

Dinner  at  Mr.  II 's — Dinner  at  Mr.  Bancroft's — 

Political  and  social  features — Literary  breakfast;  Hee- 
nan  and  Sayers 17 

CHAPTER  V. 

the  railway  station — Railway  carnages— Philadel 
phia— Washington— Willard's  Hotel  — Mr.  Seward— 
North  and  South— The  "-State  Department"  at  Wash 
ington— President  Lincoln — Dinner  at  Mr.  Seward's.  19 

CHAPTER  VI. 

A  state  dinner  at  the  White  House — Mrs.  Lincoln — The 
Cabinet  Ministers — A  newspaper  correspondent — Good 
Friday  at  Washington 23 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Barbers'  shops — Place-hunting — The  Navy  Yard — Dinner 
at  Lord  Lyons' — Estimate  of  Washington  among  his 
countrymen  —  Washington's  house  and  tomb  —  The 
Southern  Commissioners — Dinner  with  the  Southern 
Commissioners  —  Feeling  towards  England  among  the 

-    Southerners— Animosity  between  North  and  South.  25 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

New  York  Press— Rumours  as  to  the  Southerners— Visit  to 
the  Smithsonian  Institute— Pythons— Evening  at  Mr. 
Seward's— Rough  draft  of  official  dispatch  to  Lord  J. 
Russell — Estimate  of  its  effect  in  Europe — The  attitude 
of  Virginia 33 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Dinner  at  General  Scott's— Anecdotes  of  General  Scott's 
early  life— The  startling  dispatch— Insecurity  of  the 
-Capital 34 

CHAPTER  X. 

Preparations  for  war  at  Charleston — My  own  departure 
for  the  Southern  States— Arrival  at  Baltimore— Com 
mencement  of  hostilities  at  Fort  Sumter— Bombardment 
of  the  Fort— General  feeling  as  to  North  and  South- 
Slavery— First  impressions  of  the  City  of  Baltimore- 
Departure  by  steamer 35 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Scenes  on  board  an  American  steamer— The  u  Merrimac" 
—  Irish  sailors  in  America  —  Norfolk  —  A  telegram  on 
Sunday;  news  from  the  seat  of  war— American  "chaff" 
and  our  Jack  Tars 37 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Portsmouth— Railway  journey  through  the  forest— The 
great  Dismal  Swamp — American  newspapers — Cattle 
on  the  line— Negro  labour— On  through  the  Pine  Forest 
—The  Confederate  flag— Goldsborough  ;  popular  excite 
ment— Weldon— Wilmington— The  Vigilance  Commit 
tee 39 

CHAPTER  XII I. 

Sketches  round  Wilmington— Public  opinion— Approach 
to  Charleston  and  Fort  Sumter— Introduction  to  Gen 
eral  Beauregard  — Ex-Governor  Manning  —  Conversa 


tion  on  the  chances  of  the  war— "King  Cotton"  anfl 
England  —  Visit  to  Fort  Sumter  —  Market  -  place  at 
Charleston Page  42 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Southern  volunteers — Unpopularity  of  the  press — Charles 
ton— Fort  Sumter— Morris'  Island— Anti-union  enthu 
siasm—Anecdote  of  Colonel  Wigfall— Interior  view  of 
the  fort — North  versus  South 44 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Slaves,  their  masters  and  mistresses— Hotels— Attempted 
boat-journey  to  Fort  Moultrie— Excitement  at  Charles 
ton  against  New  York— Preparations  for  War— General 
Beauregard — Southern  opinion  as  to  the  policy  of  the 
North,  and  estimate  of  the  effect  of  the  war  on  England, 
through  the  cotton  market— Aristocratic  feeling  in  the 
South 48 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Charleston;  the  Market-place— Irishmen  at  Charleston- 
Governor  Pickens  :  his  political  economy  and  theories 
— Newspaper  offices  and  counting-houses — Rumours  as 
to  the  war  policy  of  the  South 50 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Visit  to  a  plantation ;  hospitable  reception — By  steamer  to 
Georgetown — Description  of  the  town — A  country  man 
sion—Masters  and  slaves— Slave  diet— Humming-birds 
— Land  irrigation  —  Negro  quarters  —  Back  to  George 
town 52 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Climate  of  the  Southern  States— General  Beauregard— 

Risks  of  the 'post-office — Hatred  of  New  England By 

railway  to  Sea  Island  plantation— Sporting  in  South 
Carolina — An  hour  on  board  a  canoe  in  the  dark  ...  56 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Domestic  negroes  —  Negro  oarsmen  —  Off  to  the  fishing- 
grounds— The  devil-fish  — Bad  sport  — The  drum-fish 
— Negro-quarters — Want  of  drainage  —  Thievish  pro 
pensities  of  the  blacks— A  Southern  estimate  of  South 
erners 53 

CHAPTER  XX. 

By  railway  to  Savannah — Description  of  the  city — Ru 
mours  of  the  last  few  days— State  of  affairs  at  Washing 
ton—Preparations  for  war— Cemetery  of  Bonaventure— 
Road  made  of  oyster-shells — Appropriate  features  of  the 
Cemetery — The  Tatnall  family — Dinner-party  at  Mr. 
Green's — Feeling  in  Georgia  against  the  North 61 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  river  at  Savannah— Commodore  Tatnall— Fort  Pulas- 
ki — Want  of  a  fleet  to  the  Southerners — Strong  feeling 
of  the  women — Siavery  considered  in  its  results — Cot 
ton  and  Georgia — Off  for  Montgomery — The  Bishop  of 
Georgia— The  Bible  and  Slavery— Macon— Dislike  of 
United  States'  gold 63 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Slave-pens ;  Negroes  on  sale  or  hire — Popular  feeling  as 
to  Secession — Beauregard  and  speech-making — Arrival 
at  Montgomery — Bad  hotel  accommodation — Knights 
of  the  Golden  Circle  —  Reflections  on  Slavery  —  Slave 
auction — The  Legislative  Assembly — A  u  live  chattel" 
knocked  down  —  Rumours  from  the  North  (true  and 
false)  and  prospects  of  war. 65 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Proclamation  of  wai— Jefferson  Davis— Intel-view  with 
the  President  of  the  Confederacy — Passport  and  safe- 
conduct—Messrs.  Wigfall,  Walker,  and  Benjamin— Pri 
vateering  and  letters  of  marque — A  reception  at  Jeffer 
son  Davis's— Dinner  at  Mr.  Benjamin's 69 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Mr.  Wigfall  on  the  Confederacy— Intended  departure  from 
the  South.— Northern  apathy  and  Southern  activity— 


224: 


CONTENTS. 


Future  prospects  of  the  Union— South  Carolina  and  cot 
ton — The  theory  of  slavery — Indifference  at  New  York 
— Departure  from  Montgomery Page  71 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  River  Alabama  —  Voyage  by  steamer — Selma— Our 
captain  and  his  slaves  —  "•  Running"  slaves  —  Negro 
views  of  happiness  —  Mobile  —  Hotel  —  The  city — Mr. 
Forsyth 73 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Visit  to  Forts  Gaines  and  Morgan— War  to  the  knife  the 
cry  of  the  South— The  u  State"  and  the  tl  States"— Bay 
of  Mobile— The  forts  and  their  inmates— Opinions  as  to 
an  attack  on  Washington — Rumours  of  actual  war. .  7(J 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Pensacola  and  Fort  Pickens— Neutrals  and  their  friends- 
Coasting — Sharks — The  blockading  fleet — The  stars  and 
stripes,  and  stars  and  bars— Domestic  feuds  caused  by 
the  war — Captain  Adams  and  General  Bragg — Interior 
of  Fort  Pickens 77 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Bitters  before  breakfast— An  old  Crimean  acquaintance — 
Earthworks  and  batteries — Estimate  of  cannons— Mag 
azines — Hospitality — English  and  American  introduc 
tions  and  leave-takings  —  Fort  Pickeus;  its  interior  — 
Return  towards  Mobile — Pursued  by  a  strange  sail — 
Kunning  the  blockade— Landing  at  Mobile 82 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Judge  Campbell — Dr.  Nott — Slavery — Departure  for  New 
Orleans — Down  the  river — Fear  of  cruisers — Approach 
to  New  Orleans— Duelling — Streets  of  New  Orleans — 
Unhealthiness  of  the  city — Public  opinion  as  to  the  war 
— Happy  and  contented  negroes 87 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

The  first  blow  struck — The  St.'Charles  hotel— Invasion  of 
Virginia  by  the  Federals— Death  of  Colonel  Ellsworth- 
Evening  at  Mr.  Slidell's — Public  comments  on  the  war 
— Richmond  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy — Military 
preparations — General  society — Jewish  element — Visit 
to  a  battle-field  of  1815 90 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Carrying  arms — New  Orleans  jail — Desperate  characters — 
Executions — Female  maniacs  and  prisoners — The  river 
and  levee — Climate  of  New  Orleans — Population — Gen 
eral  distress — Pressure  of  the  blockade— Money — Phi 
losophy  of  abstract  rights — The  doctrine  of  state  rights 
— Theoretical  defect  in  the  constitution 94 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Up  the  Mississippi  —  Free  negroes  and  English  policy  — 
Monotony  of  the  river  scenery  —  Visit  to  M.  Roman  — 
Slave  quarters— A  slave  dance — Slave  children — Negro 
hospital  —  General  opinion  —  Confidence  in  Jefferson 
Davis 97 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Ride  through  the  maize-fields— Sugar  plantation;  negroes 
at  work — Use  of  the  lash — Feeling  towards  France — Si 
lence  of  the  country — Negroes  and  dogs — Theory  of 
slavery — Physical  formation  of  the  negro — The  defence 
of  slavery— The  masses  for  negro  souls — Convent  of  the 
Sacra  Cceur — Ferry -house — A  large  landowner 100 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Negroes — Sug.ir-cnne  plantations — The  negro  and  cheap 
labour— Mortality  of  blacks  and  whites — Irish  labour  in 
Louisiana — A  sugar-house — Negro  children — Want  of 
education— Negro  diet— Negro  hospital— Spirits  in  the 
morning — Breakfast — More  slaves — Creole  planters .  103 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

War-rumours  and  military  movements — Governor  Man 
ning's  slave  plantations — Fortunes  made  by  slave  labour 
— Frogs  for  the  table — Cotton  and  sugar — A  thunder 
storm  107 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Visit  to  Mr.  M'Call's  plantation  —  Irish  and  Spaniards  — 
The  planter — A  Southern  sporting  man — The  Creoles — 
Leave  Houmas — Donaldsonville — Description  of  the  city 
X  — Baton  Rouge— Steamer  to  Natchez—  Southern  feeling ; 
faith  in  Jefferson  Davis — Rise  and  progress  of  prosperi 
ty  for  the  planters— Ultimate  issue  of  the  war  to  both 
North  and  South 108 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Down  the  Mississippi  —  Hotel  at  Vicksburg  —  Dinner  — 
^  Public  meeting — News  of  the  progress  of  the  war — Slav- 


Cam 


ery  and  England— Jackson— Governor  Pettus— Insecur 
ity  of  life — Strong  Southern  enthusiasm — Troops  bound 
for  the  North— Approach  to  Memphis— Slaves  for  sale- 
Memphis— General  Pillow Page  112 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

ip  Randolph — Cannon  practice — Volunteers "  Dixie" 

Forced  return  from  the  South — Apathy  of  the  North- 
General  retrospect  of  politics— Energy  and  earnestness 
of  the  South — Fire-arms — Position  of  Great  Britain  to 
wards  the  belligerents— Feeling  towards  the  Old  Coun 
try 117 

<          CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

Heavy  Bill-^Railway  travelling— Introductions— Assassi 
nations  —  Tennessee  —  "•  Corinth"  —  u  Tory" —  u  Hum- 
bolt" — "The  Confederate  camp" — Return  Northwards 
—Columbus— Cairo— The  slavery  question— Prospects 
of  the  war — Coarse  journalism 122 

CHAPTER  XL. 

Camp  at  Cairo— The  North  and  the  South  in  respect  to 
Europe — Political  reflections — Mr.  Colonel  Oglesby — My 
speech  —  Northern  and  Southern  soldiers  compared  — 
American  country  walks  —  Recklessness  of  life  —  Want 
of  cavalry — Emeute  in  the  camp — Pefect*  of  army  med 
ical  department — Horrors  of  war — Bad  discipline. .  127 

v  CHAPTER  XLI. 

Impending  battle — By  railway  to  Chicago — Northern  en' 
lightenment — Mound  City — u  Cotton  is  King" — Land  in 
the  States — Dead  level  of  American  society — Return  into 
the  Union — Americanhomes — Across  the  prairie — White 
labourers — New  pillager — Lake  Michigan 130 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

Progress  of  events — Policy  of  Great  Britain  as  regarded  by 
the  North  —  The  American  Press  and  its  comments  — 
Privacy  a  luxury — Chicago— Senator  Douglas  and  his 
widow — American  ingratitude — Apathy  in  voluntewing 
— Colonel  Turchin's  camp 133 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Niagara  —  Impression  of  the  Falls  —  Battle  scenes  in  the 
neighbourhood — A  village  of  Indians — General  Scott — 
Hostile  movements  on  both  sides — The  Hudson — Mili 
tary  school  at  West  Point  —  Return  to  New  York  —  Al 
tered  appearance  of  the  city  —  Misery  and  suffering  — 
Altered  state  of  public  opinion  as  to  the  Union  and  to 
wards  Great  Britain 1^5 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Departure  for  Washington — A  "servant" — The  American 
Press  on  the  War— Military  aspect  of  the  States— Phil 
adelphia — Baltimore — Washington  —  Lord  Lyons— Mr. 
Sumner — Irritation  against  Great  Britain — u  Independ 
ence"  day  —  Meeting  of  Congress  —  General  state  of  af 
fairs 140 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

Interview  with  Mr.  Seward— My  passport  —  Mr.  Seward's 
views  as  to  the  war — Illumination  at  Washington — My 
"  servant"  absents  himself — New  York  journalism — The 
Capitol— Interior  of  Congress — The  President's  message 
— Speeches  in  Congress — Lord  Lyons — General  M'Dow- 
ell — Low  standard  in  the  army — Accident  to  the  u  Stars 
and  Stripes"  — A  street  row  — Mr.  Bigelow  — Mr.  N.  P. 

Willis..: 143 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

Arlington  Heights  and  the  Potomac  — Washington  — The 
Federal  camp— General  M 'Do  well— Flying  rumours- 
Newspaper  correspondents — General  Fremont — Silenc 
ing  the  Press  and  Telegraph— A  Loan  Bill— Interview 
with  Mr.  Cameron— Newspaper  criticism  on  Lord  Lyons 
—Rumours  about  M'Clelian— The  Northern  army  as  re 
ported  and  as  it  is — General  M'Clellan 147 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 

Fortress  Monroe— General  Butler— Hospital  accommoda 
tion  —  Wounded  soldiers  —  Aristocratic  pedigrees  —  A 
great  gun  —  Newport  News  —  Fraudulent  contractors  — 
General  Butler  —  Artillery  practice  — Contraband  ne 
groes—Confederate  lines— Tombs  of  Americ'Srnoyulists 
—Troops  and  contractors— Duryea's  New  York  Zouaves 
—  Military  calculations  — A  voyage  by  steamer  to  An-^ 

napolis 1" 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

The  "  State  House"  at  Annapolis— Washington— General 
Scott's  quarters  —  Want  of  a  staff— Rival  camps  — De 
mand  for  horses  — Popular  excitement  —  Lord  Lyons  — 
General  McDowell's  movements— Retreat  from  Is 
Court-house— General  Scott's  quarters— General  Mans 
field—Battle  of  Bull's  Run I5' 


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